On Tuesday's Anderson Cooper 360, CNN's Jeffrey Toobin hyped that a federal judge's stay on President's Obama's executive action granting amnesty for scores of illegal immigrants is a "very, very bad ruling for the President and his administration." Toobin underlined that the judge is "a known conservative judge, who...[has] been hostile to the President on immigration reform."
The liberal legal analyst later asserted that "the Obama administration is going to go to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is a very conservative court – not good – not sympathetic territory for the President. And given the stakes here, I think the Supreme Court can't really stay out of this for very long." [video below]
Anchor Anderson Cooper first asked Toobin, "Jeff, before, you had said you thought the President was on pretty firm legal footing. What do you think of this judge's order?" The CNN analyst responded that "judging these days, especially in the federal courts, is a very political act. This judge was very carefully chosen by Texas." He continued with his "known conservative judge" and "very, very, bad ruling" labels, and added that "it's not over, and I think this case is on a rocket ride to the Supreme Court – maybe in a matter of weeks."
Cooper was surprised by Toobin's last statement and replied, "Really? That fast? I mean, the – this judge in Texas isn't actually ruling on the legality of the – the immigration order – correct?" The legal pundit explained that "this was simply a ruling that the Department of Homeland Security didn't follow the appropriate administrative procedures in implementing the policy. He didn't even deal with the merits yet. But now, you have a situation where a program that was supposed to go into effect tomorrow is completely on hold."
Later in the segment, Toobin played up the possibility of the Supreme Court hearing this issue:
JEFFREY TOOBIN: It's worth pausing to reflect that this spring, the Supreme Court will have life or death decisions for the President's two most important domestic policies: the health care case, which will be argued on March 4; maybe the administration – maybe this case about immigration; and, of course, marriage equality is also going to be argued. So, it's going to be a big spring at the Supreme Court.
The full transcript of the Toobin segment from Tuesday's Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN:
ANDERSON COOPER: President Obama is pushing back tonight, saying the law's on his side – this in response to a judge's move to block his executive action affecting more than a quarter million undocumented immigrants now, and as many as five million further down the road. Starting tomorrow, under the President's plan, undocumented immigrants who came to this country as children would have been eligible to apply for protection against being deported. Yesterday though, a Texas federal district judge threw up a roadblock. He sided with Texas and 25 other states. They're suing to stop the program.
(...)
Joining us now: senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin. Jeff, before, you had said you thought the President was on pretty firm legal footing. What do you think of this judge's order?
JEFFREY TOOBIN: Well, judging these days, especially in the federal courts, is a very political act. This judge was very carefully chosen by Texas. He's a known conservative judge, who is – been hostile to the President on immigration reform. This is a very, very bad ruling for the President and his administration. But it's not over, and I think this case is on a rocket ride to the Supreme Court – maybe in a matter of weeks.
COOPER: Really? That fast? I mean, the – this judge in Texas isn't actually ruling on the legality of the – the immigration order – correct?
TOOBIN: Not yet. This was simply a ruling that the Department of Homeland Security didn't follow the appropriate administrative procedures in implementing the policy. He didn't even deal with the merits yet. But now, you have a situation where a program that was supposed to go into effect tomorrow is completely on hold. That's why the Obama administration is going to go to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is a very conservative court – not good – not sympathetic territory for the President. And given the stakes here, I think the Supreme Court can't really stay out of this for very long. And even though the Supreme Court term is well along, and they're not really taking more cases, I think a case of this magnitude may well wind up before the justices – argued this spring and decided by June.
COOPER: So, it can happen that fast?
TOOBIN: It can definitely happen that fast when you have stays entered. I mean, here you have a situation where a law was about to go into effect – an administrative policy – was about to go into effect, and – and the judge stopped it.
And Anderson, it's worth pausing to reflect that this spring, the Supreme Court will have life or death decisions for the President's two most important domestic policies: the health care case, which will be argued on March 4; maybe the administration – maybe this case about immigration; and, of course, marriage equality is also going to be argued. So, it's going to be a big spring at the Supreme Court.
COOPER: Big indeed. I'm not going to ask you what you think the Supreme Court will do, because I know you're a little wary sometimes on predicting that. Is it – is it – do you think it's an obvious case?
TOOBIN: Our viewers have been burned with my predictions before. The – I think the marriage case, really, is heading in one direction. You know, the fact that they have not entered any stays; the fact that they have let 37, I think, states proceed with marriages; suggest that they have really made up their minds. It's coming to all 50 states.
COOPER: All right. Jeff Toobin, thanks very much.
