Federal judges typically choose their words carefully. They are not prone to exaggeration. This is deliberate. One reason is that it makes their words have more impact, particularly on those rare occasions when they decide it is necessary to slough off the restraints and let loose on a misbehaving litigant or attorney.

That’s what a federal judge did Thursday, when he turned his baleful eye on attorneys from the U.S. Justice Department who were litigating the deferred-action immigration case that the Supreme Court will soon decide. The attorneys had lied to the court about when the Department of Homeland Security would begin implementing President Obama’s immigration executive order.