Judge who required ethics training for possibly 3,000 DOJ lawyers stays his order
A federal judge in Texas who required ethics training for as many as 3,000 Justice Department lawyers has stayed his May 19 order and invited the department to propose its own sanction for alleged misrepresentations.
U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen of Brownsville agreed on Tuesday to stay the sanction until at least Aug. 22, when he has scheduled a new hearing, report the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) and Politico. The stay also puts on hold Hanen’s order requiring the government to provide a list of all the immigrants who received expanded deportation deferrals from the Obama administration.
Hanen says Justice Department lawyers made misrepresentations concerning the implementation date of President Obama’s deferred deportation program. Plaintiffs challenging the program claim Obama had no authority to implement the program through executive action.
Hanen’s May 19 order required any Justice Department lawyers who want to appear in the 26 states challenging the deferred deportations to attend an annual ethics course for the next five years.
The Justice Department had sought the stay, arguing that Hanen’s sanctions “far exceed the bounds of appropriate remedies.” The department has said its statements about the implementation date stem from a misunderstanding about which parts of the program Hanen was asking about.
