Saying that the attorneys for the federal government had “unclean hands” the 5th Circuit Court scalded the Biden administration for acting in bad faith as it denied the president’s request to appeal a previous ruling by the court that forced Biden to reinstate former-president Trump’s successful “Remain in Mexico” policy, according to RedState.
When taking office, Biden eliminated the “Remain in Mexico” policy by executive order and has since been forced by court order to reinstate the policy, a decision the administration tried to appeal.
NEW: The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals denies the Biden administration’s appeal of a judge’s order that required the restart of the “Remain in Mexico” policy.
The ruling is quite…direct.
H/t @ZoeTillman pic.twitter.com/kfHVIx2w1y
— Hamed Aleaziz (@Haleaziz) December 14, 2021
“Now, the 5th Circuit has slapped down that attempt at an appeal, and the decision is absolutely savage,” reported RedState. “That’s not hyperbole. Read every word of this. It’s one of the most direct condemnations from a court I’ve ever seen of a president.”
The ruling criticized the Department of Homeland Security for not making reasonable decisions in regard to the stoppage of the “Remain in Mexico” policy.
“The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a ruling Monday night, said the Department of Homeland Security didn’t engage in reasoned decision-making when it ended the Trump policy in violation of a law that governs federal-agency actions,” reported the Wall Street Journal.
But that summary didn’t do justice to the actual language of the court, which said in its decision with editor’s emphasis:
“DHS’s proposed approach is as unlawful as it is illogical. Under Supreme Court and Fifth Circuit precedent, this case is nowhere near moot. And in any event, the vacatur DHS requests is an equitable remedy, which is unavabile [sic] to parties with unclean hands. The Government’s litigation tactics disqualify it from such equitable relief.”
In short, the decision said that when a party—in this case the Biden administration and the DHS– acts in bad faith, they aren’t entitled to relief from the court. Biden and DHS didn’t act in good faith because they knowingly violated how such a decision should be implemented, hoping such violations would help their case.
“The president should learn from this matter, however, and start applying the [law] as written, and follow Congress’s mandates therein. If the administration’s not chastened by this matter, it should be,” concluded the Center for Immigration Studies.
