Most lawyers trying a case abide by the maxim: Don’t piss off the judge. President Obama disregarded that when he lectured the Supreme Court not to overturn the health care law. Indirectly the President was challenging the entire judiciary and it struck a raw nerve with Judge Jerry Smith, of the 5th Circuit Appeals Court. Judge Smith had, less than two years earlier rejected, in a 2 to 1 decision, the Interior Department request to stay a lower court order lifting the offshore drilling moratorium (Hornbeck Offshore Services LLC v. Salazar) – thus requiring the moratorium lifted. In one of...
