The blog has covered this case -- the one where the state decided it didn't have to follow Judge Williams' order. The State appealed Judge Williams and lost.
Law & Crime covers it here:
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit delivered a sharp rebuke on Friday to Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier over the state’s new immigration enforcement law — scolding him for making “a veiled threat” to defy a judge’s order blocking local immigrant arrests, while ruling to leave the order in place.
“Whether he is right or wrong about his control over other law-enforcement officials, the Attorney General has not made a ‘strong showing’ on this issue,” wrote Judges Embry Kidd, Kevin Newsom and Jill Pryor in a 16-page ruling. The appeals court denied a request for a stay made by Uthmeier and his office in a May 7 motion, which claimed the state’s new immigration enforcement law (SB 4-C) was being followed “to aid the United States in curbing illegal immigration within the state’s borders.”
***
The 11th Circuit called out Uthmeier for his resistance on Friday, saying “the equities seem to cut against the Attorney General — and in any event do not cut in his favor — given his seemingly defiant posture vis-à-vis the district court.” The judges also chided him for condemning what he calls a “universal” injunction, in reference to Williams’ order, noting how he “does not meaningfully contest the propriety of the class certification” in the stay motion.
The court said that even if the AG is correct in claiming that Florida’s law-enforcement officers are totally separate entities over which he has no meaningful control, it still doubts that Uthmeier has Article III standing to appeal the portion of the district court’s order enjoining other state law-enforcement officials, as he alleges.
So does the District Judge hold the defiant AG in contempt?
ReplyDeleteShe should, but doubtful.
ReplyDeleteThat would mean they actually have a bite, not just a bark! Yap, Yap, Yap.
ReplyDeleteSadly this should not be news. No judge wants to be overturned by the court of appeals. Had Williams ruled for Florida she knew and anyone with sense knew she would have been over turned. The Supreme Court ruled on Arizona's similar law about 12 years ago. Yet many wanted to paint Williams as some sort of out of control leftist judge. She's being conservative on this one and in line with the conservative 11th circuit and conservative Supreme Court.
ReplyDeleteJust to be clear, the appeals court merely denied Florida's motion to stay the lower court's preliminary injunction (it also granted in part Florida's motion to expedite the appeal). Even if the appeals court had granted Florida's motion to stay, that would hardly be regarded as a "loss." Let's get our facts straight and not overstate the significance of the appeals court's ruling.
DeleteSaucer of milk please!
Delete