Punishment-Doling Judge Overstepped Bounds, Says DOJ

The Justice Department is immediately appealing a federal judge’s order that its lawyers attend ethics courses, saying U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen’s punishment “exceed the scope of [his] authority.” Hanen has overseen a case in which more than two dozen states have protested an Obama administration executive order expanding rights for certain illegal immigrants. Hanen claims that 100,000 deportation deferrals were processed before he put a legal stay on the practice, despite assurances from government lawyers that no such action would be taken before the court got a chance to review the case. Hanen fired back, demanding the ethics courses for lawyers and also personal information for each of the 100,000 illegal immigrants who benefitted from the deferrals. His order would “unjustifiably impose irreparable injury on the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security and thousands of innocent third parties,” the department said in a filing this week. Forcing the government to turn over sensitive information about more than 50,000 illegal immigrants “could undermine public trust in DHS’ commitment to protecting the confidential information contained in immigration files and will create a significant burden,” the DOJ wrote.