Hawaii Judge Halts Travel Ban Again
In a case of legal deja vu, President Donald Trump's revised executive society on immigration suffered a major setback Midweek, when a federal judge in Honolulu issued a temporary restraining gild to block the travel ban from taking outcome nationwide.
In a 43-page stance, U.Southward. District Court Judge Derrick Watson ruled that Hawaii met the "burden of establishing a potent likelihood of success on the merits" of its claims against the travel ban — which suspends refugee resettlements and temporarily halts the issuance of new visas to citizens of vi Muslim-majority countries.
"A reasonable, objective observer — enlightened past the specific historical context, contemporaneous public statements and specific sequence of events leading to its issuance — would conclude that the executive order was issued with a purpose to disfavor a particular religion, in spite of its stated, religiously neutral purpose," Watson wrote.
Watson'south ruling was a resounding victory for Hawaii, which mounted the kickoff legal challenge confronting the new society on grounds that it unconstitutionally targets Muslims and discriminates based on national origin.
Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin, who first sued the Trump administration in February to challenge the original travel ban, hailed the ruling.
"This is what the checks-and-balances organisation is all about," Chin said. "The president might make certain decisions, but the way our authorities works, we too need to exist able to accept our own stance to check and balance out that whole process."
Watson's ruling was likewise the 2d major setback for Trump, who has long argued that the travel ban is necessary to address national security concerns.
Trump's original travel ban, issued Jan. 27, triggered a flurry of legal challenges across the country and ended in a defeat in the ninth U.S. Circuit Courtroom of Appeals, whose three-judge panel unanimously upheld an injunction issued in Seattle.
Speaking at a rally in Nashville, Tennessee, Trump chosen Watson's ruling "an unprecedented judicial overreach" and noted that it came from a estimate inside the "much-overturned ninth Excursion Court."
To the cheers of supporters in a campaign-style setting, Trump vowed that "we're going to fight this terrible ruling" and eventually prevail at the U.S. Supreme Court.
"The danger's clear; the police force is clear," Trump said, adding, "The best way to cease radical Islamic terrorists … is to stop them from inbound the country in the first identify."
Religious Discrimination
In his ruling, Watson directed much of his attending to assessing whether the new club, like the original travel ban, is a "Muslim ban" dressed up in legal garb — in violation of the First Amendment'south establishment clause.
At a hearing Wednesday, interim U.S. Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall argued that Trump was but exercising his broad authority to accost national security concerns.
Wall too told Watson that the travel ban had been revised to address the concerns raised past the 9th Circuit, noting that information technology applies only to visa applicants who have yet to travel to the U.South., removes a provision that singled out Syrian refugees for an indefinite ban and no longer gives preferential handling to the refugee claims of religious minorities.
But Watson was having none of it.
Watson ruled that, despite the revisions, the new order still amounts to religious discrimination — a step toward the "full and consummate shutdown of Muslims inbound the The states" that Trump promised on the campaign trail.
Watson chided the Trump assistants, in particular, for suggesting that, since the travel ban doesn't apply to all Muslim-majority countries, information technology has no "religious animus."
"The illogic of the government's contention is palpable," Watson wrote. "The notion that one can demonstrate animus toward any group of people only by targeting all of them at one time is fundamentally flawed. The court declines to relegate its institution clause analysis to a purely mathematical exercise."
Last-Minute Challenges
Watson'south ruling came on a day in which two other judges held hearings to make up one's mind whether to issue an injunction against the travel ban.
Six hours before Watson's hearing, U.S. District Courtroom Guess Theodore Chuang in Greenbelt, Maryland, heard oral arguments on a lawsuit brought by refugee aid groups merely declined to outcome a ruling from the demote.
Chuang indicated that his ruling, when it does come, might non exist nationwide in telescopic.
In Seattle, U.Due south. District Court Approximate James Robart, who blocked the original travel ban, held a hearing to consider the claims of four Washington residents who are concerned that the new social club will bar their relatives from entering the U.S. Only he has however to issue a ruling.
Meanwhile, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson cheered Hawaii'southward success.
"A win for Hawaii is a win for all of us," Ferguson said. "Trump is piling upwards defeat subsequently defeat subsequently defeat. And nosotros'll all be hither working to brand sure his streak continues."
Oregon Chaser General Ellen Rosenblum, who was in Honolulu to attend the coming together of the Conference of Western Attorneys General, said Watson's ruling reflected Hawaii's aloha spirit.
"Nosotros're and so happy to stand together today with your country with this very, very significant victory for inclusivity and for maxim loud and clear against bigotry," said Rosenblum, who, along with attorneys general from xiii states and the District of Columbia, filed an amicus cursory in support of Hawaii's lawsuit.
Hakim Ouansafi, president the Muslim Association of Hawaii, said Watson'southward ruling will protect "all the families affected by this Muslim ban."
"They say precious things come in pocket-size packages and, in this case, great things for America and the world came from this small-scale land of ours," Ouansafi said. "Very proud of the great piece of work (Attorney Full general) Doug Chin and his team did and promise that President Trump tin can concentrate on truly protecting this land as opposed to concentrating on fulfilling an unconstitutional and un-American campaign pledge."
You can read Watson'south ruling here:
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Source: https://www.civilbeat.org/2017/03/hawaii-judge-to-rule-on-challenge-to-travel-ban-before-it-takes-effect/
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