Well, friends, don't get too caught up in celebrating the Supreme Court's surprise decision Tuesday afternoon to lift its stay of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, which allowed Texas'
SB4 law (allowing state law enforcement officers to arrest and detain those suspected of entering the country illegally) to go into effect. Remember this cautionary observation?
Reading between the lines of the concurring and dissenting opinions, none of the justices who authored them are particularly enamored of the way the Fifth Circuit chose to handle this issue procedurally. Currently, the case is set for oral argument before the Fifth Circuit on April 3rd, but whether or not there will be some additional procedural wrangling (e.g., an attempt to prompt a formal stay pending appeal and further review of same) between now and then remains to be seen.
It seems the Fifth Circuit took the hint. Late Tuesday afternoon, the court set oral arguments on the motion for stay pending appeal (initially
filed by Texas on March 1st) for Wednesday morning at 10:00 am (Central).
That's right. The Fifth Circuit will now entertain the parties' arguments on whether or not a formal stay (of the district court's ruling finding the law unconstitutional) pending appeal should be entered while the case is sorted out on the merits.
redstate.com