Judge Lawrence VanDyke of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday accused the Biden administration of having “wholly political” reasons and no legal basis for agreeing to pause a challenge to its rule restricting asylum amid settlement talks with the challengers.

VanDyke, who joined the bench in 2020, dissented to an order allowing the appeal to be held in abeyance pending settlement negotiations with status updates every 60 days. He called the government’s agreement to pause the litigation an “abrupt about-face.”