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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBiden's Justice Department Finally Stands Up to Out-of-Control Texas Judges
Slatehttps://archive.ph/T5nlV
As soon as President Joe Biden entered the White House, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched an unprecedented campaign of obstruction to block his agenda in the courts. Paxton took advantage of a quirkreally, a loopholein the federal judiciary: A state can pick the specific judge who will oversee its case by filing in a small division where only one judge sits. Using this strategy, Paxton has positioned his cases before a rotating cast of the same conservative judges, most of them nominated by Donald Trump. They have dutifully played their role in this pantomime of litigation, issuing an unending series of sweeping injunctions that block Biden administration policies nationwide for months or years.
On Thursday, the administration finally said: enough. In response to yet another Texas lawsuit exploiting this loophole, Bidens Justice Department called out Paxtonand, implicitly, the judges playing along with his scheme. The DOJ highlighted Texas blatant and shameless judge-shopping, urging a transfer to another court in the interests of justice. Naturally, Trump-nominated Judge Drew Tipton is unlikely to oblige; that is, after all, why Paxton hand-picked him for this lawsuit. But the DOJs filing marks a new phase of battle against Republicans judicial gamesmanship: The Justice Department is playing hardball in the lower courts, forcing compromised judges to address their own complicity in a cynical partisan chicanery.
The underlying lawsuit in Texas v. Department of Homeland Security is another frivolous effort to shift control over border policy from the executive branch to a single federal judge. Paxton has pulled this off before: In August 2021, he persuaded another Trump-nominated judge, Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, to block Bidens repeal of a Trump policy that forced U.S.-bound migrants to remain in Mexico. Kacsmaryk even forced U.S. diplomats to negotiate with Mexican officials under threat of sanctions. Texas new suit, filed on Tuesday, seeks to do something similar. The state is infuriated by a new agreement between the Biden administration and Mexico regarding migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Venezuela. (The U.S. cannot send these migrants back to their home countries.) The agreement compels most of these migrants to stay on the Mexican side of the border. But it allows a small number of them to enter the U.S. legallyand remain here for a limited periodif they are vetted and have financial supporters in the country already.
On Thursday, the administration finally said: enough. In response to yet another Texas lawsuit exploiting this loophole, Bidens Justice Department called out Paxtonand, implicitly, the judges playing along with his scheme. The DOJ highlighted Texas blatant and shameless judge-shopping, urging a transfer to another court in the interests of justice. Naturally, Trump-nominated Judge Drew Tipton is unlikely to oblige; that is, after all, why Paxton hand-picked him for this lawsuit. But the DOJs filing marks a new phase of battle against Republicans judicial gamesmanship: The Justice Department is playing hardball in the lower courts, forcing compromised judges to address their own complicity in a cynical partisan chicanery.
The underlying lawsuit in Texas v. Department of Homeland Security is another frivolous effort to shift control over border policy from the executive branch to a single federal judge. Paxton has pulled this off before: In August 2021, he persuaded another Trump-nominated judge, Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, to block Bidens repeal of a Trump policy that forced U.S.-bound migrants to remain in Mexico. Kacsmaryk even forced U.S. diplomats to negotiate with Mexican officials under threat of sanctions. Texas new suit, filed on Tuesday, seeks to do something similar. The state is infuriated by a new agreement between the Biden administration and Mexico regarding migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Venezuela. (The U.S. cannot send these migrants back to their home countries.) The agreement compels most of these migrants to stay on the Mexican side of the border. But it allows a small number of them to enter the U.S. legallyand remain here for a limited periodif they are vetted and have financial supporters in the country already.
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Biden's Justice Department Finally Stands Up to Out-of-Control Texas Judges (Original Post)
In It to Win It
Jan 2023
OP
In fairness to the DOJ there had to be a clear pattern established. This will go SCOTUS, don't
Alexander Of Assyria
Jan 2023
#5
bucolic_frolic
(43,311 posts)1. Judge-shopping really is absurd
You can't have one foreign policy for Texas and another for the rest of the country.
UTUSN
(70,744 posts)2. K&R for, where does PAXTON think he is - Texas?!
NullTuples
(6,017 posts)3. Thank you for this info, I've been wondering for years how...
...conservative, far right wing Christian Judge Reed O'Connor always ended up as the judge for any Texas anti-LGBTQ lawsuits, going so far as to put nationwide injunctions in place for years.
Dustlawyer
(10,497 posts)4. And Paxton's own criminal cases sit year after year with nothing happening.
He is above the law in Texas as long as he lands (or picks) in the right court.
Alexander Of Assyria
(7,839 posts)5. In fairness to the DOJ there had to be a clear pattern established. This will go SCOTUS, don't
go there without solid evidence of judicial bias and abuse of process even they they cant reject.
Bad facts going to appeal make bad law.
Evolve Dammit
(16,778 posts)6. Judge Roy Bean is going to be accountable? About f'in time. Good news