The legal battle over President Obama's 2014 immigrations actions has been long and complicated, with one federal judge,
Andrew Hanen, essentially single-handedly
halting the programs from being implemented. Last month, a federal appeals court
denied the government's request to lift Hanen's hold on the programs pending further review by the 5th Circuit.
But the 5th Circuit panel of judges who issued that ruling included two notoriously conservative judges—Jerry E. Smith and Judge Jennifer Elrod—and their decision, much like Hanen's, wasn't a surprise. It was also a ruling on the emergency motion to stay Hanen's injunction while it underwent further review by the court, rather than a ruling on the merits of the injunction itself.
Now, finally comes a ray of hope from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which will consider outright the government's appeal of Hanen's injunction on the immigration programs that could provide deportation relief for up to five million undocumented immigrants. Last week, the appeals court sent a letter addressed to the attorneys handling the case on both sides, and Ian Millhiser deciphers its meaning.
Significantly, however, the letter also advised the attorneys to be “mindful of the relationship between motions panels and merits panels as stated in” the court’s 1997 decision in Mattern v. Eastman Kodak Co. That decision held that “a panel hearing the merits of an appeal may review a motions panel ruling, and overturn it where necessary,” and that “the merits panel must be especially vigilant where, as here, the issue is one of jurisdiction.”
So, to translate this somewhat arcane mix of legalize, the panel that will consider Hanen’s order in July is not bound by Smith and Elrod’s decision refusing to stay Hanen’s order. Indeed, this new panel even has the power to “overturn” Smith and Elrod’s decision.
All this is a very long way of saying that, when the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reviews Judge Hanen's order in July, it has indicated that it will do so with an entirely fresh lens that's unconstrained by prior rulings.