Four States Just Filed A Lawsuit To Kill Trump’s Second Muslim Ban
This week Donald Trump signed a new executive order to replace his “Muslim ban,” which was shot down in court because it illegally targeted Muslims on the basis of their religion to exclude them from entering America.
POLITICO reports that “A group of at least four states are headed to court to block key elements of the new travel ban executive order President Donald Trump signed Monday.”
The states filing together are Washington, Minnesota, New York, and Oregon (Hawaii has already started its own individual suit).
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson argues that the injunction obtained that blocked Trump’s first travel ban also applies to the second iteration of the ban. Ferguson explains,
“We’re asserting that the president cannot unilaterally declare himself free of the court’s restraining order and injunction. It’s our view that that temporary restraining order that we’ve already obtained remains in effect.
[The new ban] has been narrowed. … That does not mean that it has cured its constitutional problems.”
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), an instrumental player in the resistance to Trump’s first travel ban, has declared the new version “still a Muslim ban.”
There are a few changes between the first ban and the current ban. The new ban applies to six countries, not seven (Iraq has been dropped). Regarding those six majority-Muslim countries, non-Muslims do not get special privileges like they did under the first ban.
Additionally, nationals of the six countries who already have a visa are allowed to enter and remain in the U.S.
However, as ACLU Legal Director David Cole explains, the new version of the ban “is still religious discrimination in the pretextual guise of national security. And it’s still unconstitutional.”
In an article titled “Once A Muslim Ban, Still A Muslim Ban,” Cole asserts that we cannot call the new travel ban anything else. It still directly reflects Trump’s emphatic campaign promise “to ban Muslim immigrants from entering the United States.”
Cole compellingly claims that, “the new executive order is, like the old executive order, intended to target Muslims.” He deems the new ban unconstitutional and tells the Trump Administration, “We’ll see you in court.”
Last time Trump tried to send his lawyers out to defend the indefensible, he lost quickly and he lost badly. No doubt it will be the same this time around.
We support the ACLU and all the states that have the guts to stand up for the Constitution in the face of Trump’s xenophobic tyranny.
