THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING LEGACY: Federal judge blocks Obama overtime pay rule.

U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant of the Eastern District of Texas, whom President Obama appointed, imposed a nationwide injunction against the rule Tuesday at the request of 21 states, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups.

Business groups cheered the decision as another rebuke of the Obama administration’s penchant for regulation and for extending executive power.

“The Labor Department’s overtime changes are a reckless and aggressive overreach of executive power, and retailers are pleased with the judge’s decision,” said David French, the National Retail Federation’s senior vice president for government relations.

The judge said the Labor Department regulation exceeded the authority granted it by Congress, which he said gave Labor the right to define which workers are considered salaried but only based on the duties they performed, not by how much they made.

Live by the phone and the pen, die by the phone and the pen.