Virginia court rules for Trump in travel ban dispute; order still halted
Source: Reuters
Fri Mar 24, 2017 | 1:31pm EDT
By Mica Rosenberg
A U.S. federal judge in Virginia ruled on Friday that President Donald Trump's travel ban was justified, increasing the likelihood the measure will go before the Supreme Court as the decision took an opposing view to courts in Maryland and Hawaii that have halted the order.
U.S. District Court Judge Anthony Trenga rejected arguments by Muslim plaintiffs who claimed Trump's March 6 executive order temporarily banning the entry of all refugees and travelers from six Muslim-majority countries was discriminatory. The decision went against two previous court rulings that put an emergency halt to the order before it was set to take effect on March 16. The order remains halted.
Trump has said he plans to appeal those unfavorable rulings to the U.S. Supreme Court if needed, and differing opinions by lower courts give more grounds for the highest court to take up the case.
Trenga, an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush, said the complaint backed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim civil rights group, found that more than 20 individuals who brought the suit had been able to show they were harmed by the travel ban since they might be unable to reunite with their relatives.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-legal-idUSKBN16V2DE
Eliot Rosewater
(31,097 posts)in power or ANYBODY from the GOP
Equinox Moon
(6,344 posts)spooky3
(34,303 posts)I don't understand it.
On edit: In the full story, the next pgh, beginning "But...", clarifies it. It appears the judge agrees that the plaintiffs would be harmed, but wasn't convinced that it was discriminatory against Muslims.
"But he also ruled that Trump's revised order, which replaced a more sweeping version signed on Jan. 27 and rejected by courts, fell within the president's authority to make decisions about immigration.
He said that since the order did not mention religion, the court could not look behind it at Trump's statements about a "Muslim ban" to determine what was in the "drafter's heart of hearts."
mahatmakanejeeves
(56,897 posts)By Max Greenwood - 03/24/17 12:27 PM EDT
A federal judge in Virginia on Friday upheld President Trump's revised travel ban, delivering a small victory to the Trump administration as it seeks to strengthen its legal case for the executive order that has been blocked in other courts.
U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga, who sits on the Eastern District Court of Virginia in Alexandria, rebuffed Muslim activists' request to temporarily bar the executive order on the grounds that the ban, which blocks travel to the United States for travelers from six predominately Muslim countries, acts as a discriminatory ban on a particular religious group.
The order, Trenga wrote in his opinion, falls well within the president's authority over the country's foreign policy and national security.
"The President has provided a detailed justification for the Order based on national security needs, and enjoining the operation of [executive order] would interfere with the Presidents unique constitutional responsibilities to conduct international relations, provide for the national defense, and secure the nation," he wrote.