Newsmax - Rep. Poe: Obama Cannot Rush Federal Judge on Amnesty Ruling

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By Melissa Clyne

Despite the request for an expedited review, the Obama administration cannot rush a Texas federal judge's decision on whether to block the president's executive orders on immigration, Texas Rep. Ted Poe said Friday on "America's Forum" on Newsmax TV.

"They're trying to rush it through the system because they want the judge to change his mind and the president wants to illegally, in my opinion, grant his executive order amnesty, which I don't think down the road he's going to be successful in doing," said Poe.

The administration has asked for a decision by Monday from U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen on whether he will halt his February decision to block the White House's executive orders on immigration or, alternatively, limit his decision to Texas.

President Barack Obama's executive order grants de facto amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants.

Even after Hanen issues his decision, Poe, a former criminal court judge, predicted the issue will be tied up in the appellate courts.

"This whole process will take several months before it ever gets to the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans," he said. "Contrary to what the administration wants down the road, this ruling by the judge will take some time to be appealed by the Fifth Circuit."

Poe also weighed in on the email scandal of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In addition to concerns over security, maintaining a government record and the Freedom of Information Act, having a private email server presents a roadblock to the committee investigating Benghazi and determining exactly what Clinton knew, he said.

"That's the result of her hiding the emails in her private account," said Poe. "The public is not finding out what happened or what she said. Once again, it's a situation where 'rules for thee, but not for me.'

"Hillary doesn't want to follow the rules that she expects everybody else at the State Department to have followed. A little bit hypocritical on her part."

This issue is one of great concern on both sides of the aisle, he added.

"It's an issue of integrity, corruption-- all of those things, and there are people in both parties who don't like that," Poe said. "You're seeing more bipartisan concern about the emails than maybe one would've thought."

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