The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an earlier halt on President Trump’s second attempt at a travel ban on May 25, as another court battle continues to play out over the ban in the 9th Circuit.
Read original article by Jennifer Rubin on the Washington Post or read some of the key points below;
- “In rather candid terms, the court dismissed the administration’s claim that national security necessitated the ban:”
- “Having decided to look for the actual motive behind the executive order, the court readily found that its actual purpose racial animus, plain and simple. The court held: “The evidence in the record, viewed from the standpoint of the reasonable observer, creates a compelling case that EO-2’s primary purpose is religious. Then-candidate Trump’s campaign statements reveal that on numerous occasions, he expressed anti-Muslim sentiment, as well as his intent, if elected, to ban Muslims from the United States.”
- “Trump’s attorney general vows to take the case to the Supreme Court, but to what end? The purpose of the ban was to give the administration time to come up with super-duper vetting procedures. Surely, they could have accomplished that in four months (longer than the suggested ban on travel to seven countries in the first ban.”
- “Moreover, Trump just visited Saudi Arabia where he waxed eloquent about the Muslim religion and the need for peoples of all faiths to combat radicalized Islamic terrorists. He told Arab leaders from 55 countries, including five named in the original ban (Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and Libya),”
- “He cannot expect his words to be taken seriously if, days later, he pursues an appeal seeking to uphold a ban on those traveling from these very same countries.”
- “Why does Trump then pursue this useless, counterproductive ban? Most importantly, he cannot stand to lose. Regardless of the ban’s utility, he’ll not drop appeals and concede he was wrong. Second and more important, this is red meat for his crowd, the xenophobic, shiny object he can use to convince his core base that he is “doing something” about foreigners, Muslims in particular.”
- “The Muslim ban(s) revealed both the ineptness and the mean-spiritedness of this administration. But it also underscored the power of an independent judiciary, which remains a bulwark of liberty against bigoted, power-hungry leaders.”
