Ed Morrissey:
Pretty please with sugar on it didn’t work with Judge Andrew Hanen, apparently. The federal judge who slapped a hold on Barack Obama’s executive amnesty plans refused to budge on it, telling the Department of Justice that there was no pressing need to proceed while other issues get adjudicated. Hanen also did a little more slapping with DoJ lawyers over alleged misconduct in the case:
A federal judge in Texas late Tuesday kept a temporary hold on President Barack Obama’s executive action that sought to shield millions of immigrants from deportation, rejecting a U.S. Department of Justice request that he allow the action to go ahead.
U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen in Brownsville refused to lift the preliminary injunction he granted on Feb. 16 at the request of 26 states that oppose Obama’s action. …
In his order Tuesday denying the government’s request, Hanen said the government hasn’t “shown any credible reason for why this Directive necessitates immediate implementation.”
Hanen wasn’t finished, though. The judge issued an order demanding the production of all records surrounding an advisory issued after the initial stay that the DoJ had filed with the court. Hanen accused Justice attorneys of misleading him on the nature of the executive amnesty program and its status, and Buzzfeed’s Chris Geidner calls this second order a bigger deal than it seems:
How long before Judge Hanen is indicted for corruption? Perhaps an IRS audit?