GOP Judges in the Majority on Obama Immigration Stay

The 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals announced Monday that the three-judge panel scheduled to hear arguments on the Justice Department's request for a stay of an injunction against Obama's immigration actions will consist of Judges Jerry Smith, Jennifer Walker Elrod and Stephen Higginson.
Smith was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, Elrod by President George W. Bush and Higginson by Obama.
Smith is the best known of the trio. During oral argument on a health care related case in 2012, he ordered a Justice Department lawyer to do what critics described as a homework assignment: produce a three-page paper explaining whether the courts had the authority to determine whether laws were constitutional.
The same three judges are unlikely to make the ultimate decision on the legal merits of the lower court judge's ruling. Instead, the current panel is assigned to wrestle with the immediate question of whether the injunction should remain in effect while an expedited appeal goes forward.