A federal judge in New Orleans on Tuesday blocked Obama's six-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling projects imposed in response to the massive Gulf oil spill. Several companies that ferry people and supplies and provide other services to offshore drilling rigs asked U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans to overturn the moratorium, arguing it was arbitrarily imposed. Feldman agreed, saying in his ruling the Interior Department seemed to assume that because one rig failed, all companies and rigs doing deepwater drilling pose an imminent danger. "An invalid agency decision to suspend drilling of wells in depths of over 500 feet simply cannot justify the immeasurable effect on the plaintiffs, the local economy, the Gulf region, and the critical present-day aspect of the availability of domestic energy in this country," Feldman wrote. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...mas-offshore-drilling-moratorium-gulf-mexico/
My first thought is that Obama got slapped good, but isn't an executive order kinda untouchable? And if this wasn't an executive order, why not?