White House Will Seek to Lift Injunction on DACA Program

I’ve been working under the assumption for weeks that the White House would immediately seek to lift the injunction the Texas judge was presumably going to issue in the DACA/DAPA lawsuit. I learned yesterday, however, that there was a major debate going on in the White House regarding whether they were going to bother or just fight it out in court and get the whole case dismissed (which would take months). Why? Apparently, there was concern that losing a second time would demoralize immigrants and Democrats. Maybe so, but not seeking to lift the stay also makes it sound like you lack confidence in your case – a very strong case. Happily, the White House announced today that it would file its paperwork to fight the injunction no later than Monday. So we ought to know in a couple of weeks what the 5th Circuit wants to do. By the way, I think the conventional wisdom is wrong about the 5th Circuit and the likelihood they will side against the President. I think they may be more conservative as a general rule, but they’re not overly political like Judge Hanen and will give the matter a fair hearing.