The Obama administration certainly didn’t get what it wanted from a federal judge late Tuesday, and at the same time Obama’s legal team got much more than it bargained for.
U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen not only refused to lift his order temporarily blocking the president’s unilateral action on amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants, he also issued what The Washington Examiner called “a scathing rebuke” to Obama’s lawyers for “misleading” him.
In fact, says the Examiner report by Byron York, the angry judge “came very near to accusing administration lawyers of flat-out lying to him.”
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The administration’s assertions in the immigration case have been “misleading,” “troublesome,” and “belied by the facts,” Hanen wrote. “Any number of federal judges, given this misconduct, would consider striking the government’s pleadings.”
Doing so would effectively end the case altogether, and Hanen wrote that he had decided not to take that action because the issues at stake are of great national importance.
Judge Hanen’s judicial spanking of government lawyers in the case resulted from their admission that the administration had not told the court the whole truth about when parts of the president’s executive orders easing deportation for certain illegals had begun to take effect.
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“Hanen’s anger is apparent throughout the order. One government assertion ‘is belied by the facts.’ A government explanation is ‘troublesome.’ Omissions from the government’s filings are ‘mysterious.'”
The Washington Examiner article notes that Judge Hanen even went so far as to characterize the actions and assertions of Obama’s legal team as “fabrications, misstatements, half-truths, artful omissions….”
So, for now, the president’s executive amnesty orders remain blocked by Judge Hanen’s preliminary injunction. On April 17th, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear arguments about lifting that injunction.
As Breitbart reports, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has vowed to continue to “vigorously oppose the president’s illegal amnesty plan in court.”
“The rule of law is at the very heart of our case against President Obama’s lawless immigration action,” Paxton said.
“We are a nation of laws, and we are proud to lead a bipartisan coalition of 26 states fighting this Administration’s unilateral and unconstitutional use of executive power.”