U.S. appeals court allows Texas to exclude Planned Parenthood

[onenote]

8. I think this is the same judge that ordered Holder to explain the president's views on the court's

power to strike to down legislation.

If I'm right, it appears that once again he's decided to wear his partisanship on his sleeve. While the Federal Rules allow a single judge to grant a stay of a lower court order, its fairly unusual to proceed in that manner. Indeed, the rules of appellate procedure (which this judge cited in his one sentence order) specifically state that: (D) A motion under this Rule 8(a)(2) must be filed with the circuit clerk and normally will be considered by a panel of the court. But in an exceptional case in which time requirements make that procedure impracticable, the motion may be made to and considered by a single judge.


Without having seen the pleadings and given that the judge only issued a one-sentence order, its hard to know what the basis would be for finding that this is an "exceptional case in which time requirements" make it impracticable for the stay motion to be ruled on by a three judge panel.