President Barack Obama's executive actions granting legal status to millions of illegal immigrants is "absolutely dead" following a federal judge's ruling late Monday night staying its implementation, retired Judge Andrew Napolitano told Fox News on Tuesday.
"The Obama amnesty plan is dead, absolutely dead," Napolitano, a Fox News analyst, said on
Fox News Channel's "The Kelly File."
The White House is expected to appeal, but Napolitano said he doesn't believe the conservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals or the U.S. Supreme Court will interfere before U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen of Texas makes a final ruling on the merits of the case.
"The high court does not want to hear on this case until it's been ruled on with finality from below. And the Fifth Circuit does not want to hear on this case until it's been ruled on with finality from below," he said.
Napolitano said he doesn't believe that ruling will come before Obama leaves office in January 2017. That would make his executive orders null and void, especially if a Republican wins the White House and reverses them.
Twenty-six states, led by Texas, have sued to stop implementation of the order by the Department of Homeland Security.
Napolitano called the preliminary injunction "devastating" for the administration. In the judge's 125-page ruling, he determined that Obama overstepped his constitutional authority and illegally changed federal law.
He also agreed with the state attorneys general that irreparable harm could be caused by allowing the process to begin if it ends up being overturned later.