These Are the States Suing Over Trump's New Travel Ban
When President Trump released his first executive order on immigration and refugees from Muslim-majority countries, we noted the "response -- from protestors and civil rights attorneys -- was immediate." That immediate response included a stay from federal judges and, ultimately, an enforcement ban from the Ninth Circuit.
Trump has dropped his appeal to that ban and issued a revised executive order on the issue, and the response to the new travel ban has been pretty much the same as to the old travel ban. Four states have sued to block the new executive order from going into effect, but will they have the same success as last time?
Washington v. the White House
The Washington Attorney General's Office successfully blocked the travel ban one month ago, gaining a unanimous decision from the Ninth Circuit finding that the "government has pointed to no evidence that any alien from any of the countries named in the order has perpetrated a terrorist attack in the United States." While many speculated the president might appeal to the Supreme Court, the administration chose instead to revise and reissue another order.
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson told reporters that his office believes the two executive orders are essentially the same, and will ask the court to rule that the enforcement ban applies to the new version of the travel ban just as it does the old one.
Aloha, Travel Ban
Attorneys General from Massachusetts, New York, and Oregon will join Washington's lawsuit over the new ban. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman called Trump's latest executive order "a Muslim ban by another name, imposing policies and protocols that once again violate the Equal Protection Clause and Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution."
And Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin filed a separate suit in federal court this week, claiming the latest travel ban would hurt Hawaii's tourism industry, businesses, and educational institutions. Hawaii's was the first legal challenge to President Trump's revised travel ban, and claims the order is "motivated by animus and a desire to discriminate on the basis of religion and/or national origin, nationality, or alienage" and thus violates the Establishment Clause by disfavoring Islam.
We'll have to wait and see how courts react to the new legal challenges to Trump executive order, but we're guessing we won't have to wait too long.
Related Resources:
- Legal Challenges to Trump's Travel Ban Mount From US States (ABC)
- What Does Trump's New Immigration EO Mean for Washington v. Trump? (FindLaw's Ninth Circuit Blog)
- Trump Issues New Executive Order in Refugees, Immigration (FindLaw's Courtside)
- What Power Does the President Have Over Deportation Policy? (FindLaw's Law and Daily Life)