Posted on 08/08/2016 7:15:50 AM PDT by Elderberry
The Obama administrations two levels of defense of its broad new immigration policy one, a continued attempt to put the policy into effect, the other, a move to head off a federal judges ethical complaints against federal lawyers in the case are moving along even in the slow court days of summer.
The policy seeking to put off deportation of close to five million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. has never gone into effect because of lower court orders stalling it. On June 23, the Supreme Court left those orders in effect, splitting 4-to-4. That was not a decision for or against the policy, just a divided response to the question of enforcement while the courts weigh its legality.
Meanwhile, the Texas federal trial judge who originally blocked the policy U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen of Brownsville has been overseeing filings in response to his broad sanctions order in May against the Justice Department for what he found to be ethical lapses by two Department attorneys as the case unfolded in his court charges that the administration strongly denies.
Last week, new developments occurred on both fronts.
The Supreme Courts docket showed that its clerk had formally sent on to the Justices the Obama administrations request to reconsider the immigration policy itself, by agreeing to a rehearing of the case to be held when there is a ninth Justice on the bench. Under normal summer scheduling, the Court could issue an order on that request later this month. (The case is United States v. Texas, docket 15-674.)
There is no duty for the Justices to act by then, and there appears to be a fair prospect that they wont. Last term, when it had a rehearing request in another controversy that had ended with a 4-to-4 tie on union fees charged to non-member workers in public sector jobs the Court took that off of its schedule for discussion nine times before finally simply denying it, without comment or noted dissent.
Under the Courts rules, a rehearing on a decided case almost never will be granted unless the Justices first ask the other side in a case to respond. There is no indication that they have yet done so in the immigration case.
The challenge of 26 states to the deferred deportation policy has never actually gone through a full trial, and Judge Hanen, presiding over the case, has put everything on hold on the case itself while he pursues his ethics punishment order. He had been scheduled to hold a conference with lawyers on the ethics issue on August 22, but on Friday, without giving an explanation, he put off that session until August 31.
The Justice Department has filed a 51-page document being kept under seal because it deals with specific performances and assignments of government attorneys. The document is in response to the judges order in July that it provide any information it wished that bears upon what kind of punishment might ultimately be imposed for the claimed ethical lapses. His May sanctions order itself is on hold for the time being.
Meanwhile, Judge Hanen has had before him since mid-June a formal request by the Justice Department to vacate his May ethical sanctions order. The Department has argued, over the protests of lawyers for the challenging states, that the set-aside of that order is necessary to protect Judge Hanens continued authority to deal with the ethical question before appeals from the May order are moved on up to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
If those appeals proceed, the Department has contended, that probably would interrupt the trial judges jurisdiction to proceed. This part of the controversy involves very complex issues of federal court rules dealing with jurisdiction, and the two sides are deeply divided on it.
It seems likely that the complexity of that question, as well as the length of the Departments new ethical arguments and evidence, could explain the judges order to delay the status conference until the end of the month. There also could be scheduling conflicts.
In any event, the administration policy itself remains essentially in a legal limbo neither finally judged to be legal or not, but still not in force. It could be that time will run out on the Obama administration the Presidents term ends on January 20, 2017 before there is a final word on it in the courts.
And, in the meantime, that policy remains a deeply controversial subject in this years presidential election campaign.
HILLARY, MEET YOUR MUSLIM VOTERS
Obama ignored the concerns of US governors and began delivering Syrians en masse to almost every state along with a steady stream of Somali, Afghan, Iraqi and Burmese
Muslims.
Lowell Mass got the news of the Muslim influx when an 11-year old girl was molested at a local swimming pool by a Muslim refugee.
The Mayor of Pittsburgh actually ASKED for more. So did mayors in most of these other Rust Belt towns. It’s a scam to inflate their raw population numbers to impact both redistricting and the Electoral College after the next Census.
Some of the cities receiving heavy numbers of Syrian refugees are the following:
Atlanta, Savannah and Stone Mountain, Georgia
Asheville, High Point, Raleigh-Durham, Greensboro, Winston-Salem and Charlotte, North Carolina
Columbia, South Carolina
Dearborn, Clinton Township, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Troy, Battle Creek, Ann Arbor, Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township, W. Bloomfield Township, Madison Heights,
Sterling Heights, Ypsilanti and Lansing, Michigan
Boise, Idaho
Columbus, Toledo and Cleveland, Ohio
Buffalo, Albany and Syracuse, New York
Elizabeth, Camden, Bellmawr, Hawthorne, Jersey City, Moorestown, Woodland Park and Paterson, New Jersey
Lowell, Worchester, Springfield-West Springfield, Westfield, Billerica, Massachusetts
Minneapolis, Rochester and Savage, Minnesota
Omaha, Nebraska
Kansas City and Wichita, Kansas
Erie, Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, Houston, Plano, Sugarland, Tomball and San Antonio, Texas
Denver and Thornton, Colorado
Des Moines, Iowa
Salt Lake City, Utah
Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky
Baltimore, Riverdale, Ellicott City and Silver Spring, Maryland
Tampa, Clearwater and Jacksonville, Florida
Glendale, Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona
New Haven and Hartford, Connecticut
Portland, Maine
Concord, New Hampshire
Saint Louis and Kansas City, Missouri
Las Vegas, Nevada
New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Portland, Oregon
Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee
Charlottesville, Newport News, Roanoke, Harrisonburg, Powhatan and Falls Church, Virginia
Oshkosh, Sheboygan, Milwaukee-Madison, Wisconsin
Chicago, Indianapolis, San Diego, Sacramento, Los Angeles.
Erie, Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
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