SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
'Here We Go': Hawaii Files First Lawsuit Against Muslim Ban 2.0
"It's disenfranchising people who are not of the majority race or majority religion. It puts them in a place that smears their culture or a religion that is not accepted by everyone else. And that's wrong"
Mar 08, 2017
Hawaii filed the first legal challenge to President Donald Trump's revised travel ban on Tuesday, asking a judge to temporarily block his executive order the day after it was signed.
The court filing from the office of Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin argues that the ban--which blocks travelers from six majority-Muslim countries from entering the U.S.--is resulting in "the establishment of religion in the state of Hawaii contrary to its Constitution."
It is also "inflicting immediate damage to Hawaii's economy, educational institutions, and tourism industry; and it is subjecting a portion of the state's citizens to second-class treatment and discrimination, while denying all Hawaii residents the benefits of an inclusive and pluralistic society," the document, filed in U.S. District Court in Honolulu, states.
Hawaii asked Judge Derrick K. Watson for an expedited hearing on the motion to file the temporary restraining order. If he agrees, the court will be able to hear the state's arguments before the ban goes into effect on March 16.
Neal Katyal, a Washington, D.C. attorney who is representing the state, tweeted Tuesday, "Here we go. Proud to stand w/State of Hawaii challenging Pres.Trump's 'new' Executive Order issued yesterday."
The order blocks travelers from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen from entering the country for 90 days, and all refugees for 120 days.
It also exempts permanent residents and current visa-holders.
But civil and human rights experts say it is essentially a scaled-down reprise of Trump's original memo, which banned the six countries in addition to Iraq, and banned Syrian refugees indefinitely--leading to its now-infamous "Muslim ban" moniker.
"It's about discrimination," Chin said at a press conference Tuesday. "It's discriminating against people based on their national origin or based on their religion. It's disenfranchising people who are not of the majority race or majority religion. It puts them in a place that smears their culture or a religion that is not accepted by everyone else. And that's wrong."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
Hawaii filed the first legal challenge to President Donald Trump's revised travel ban on Tuesday, asking a judge to temporarily block his executive order the day after it was signed.
The court filing from the office of Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin argues that the ban--which blocks travelers from six majority-Muslim countries from entering the U.S.--is resulting in "the establishment of religion in the state of Hawaii contrary to its Constitution."
It is also "inflicting immediate damage to Hawaii's economy, educational institutions, and tourism industry; and it is subjecting a portion of the state's citizens to second-class treatment and discrimination, while denying all Hawaii residents the benefits of an inclusive and pluralistic society," the document, filed in U.S. District Court in Honolulu, states.
Hawaii asked Judge Derrick K. Watson for an expedited hearing on the motion to file the temporary restraining order. If he agrees, the court will be able to hear the state's arguments before the ban goes into effect on March 16.
Neal Katyal, a Washington, D.C. attorney who is representing the state, tweeted Tuesday, "Here we go. Proud to stand w/State of Hawaii challenging Pres.Trump's 'new' Executive Order issued yesterday."
The order blocks travelers from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen from entering the country for 90 days, and all refugees for 120 days.
It also exempts permanent residents and current visa-holders.
But civil and human rights experts say it is essentially a scaled-down reprise of Trump's original memo, which banned the six countries in addition to Iraq, and banned Syrian refugees indefinitely--leading to its now-infamous "Muslim ban" moniker.
"It's about discrimination," Chin said at a press conference Tuesday. "It's discriminating against people based on their national origin or based on their religion. It's disenfranchising people who are not of the majority race or majority religion. It puts them in a place that smears their culture or a religion that is not accepted by everyone else. And that's wrong."
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
Hawaii filed the first legal challenge to President Donald Trump's revised travel ban on Tuesday, asking a judge to temporarily block his executive order the day after it was signed.
The court filing from the office of Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin argues that the ban--which blocks travelers from six majority-Muslim countries from entering the U.S.--is resulting in "the establishment of religion in the state of Hawaii contrary to its Constitution."
It is also "inflicting immediate damage to Hawaii's economy, educational institutions, and tourism industry; and it is subjecting a portion of the state's citizens to second-class treatment and discrimination, while denying all Hawaii residents the benefits of an inclusive and pluralistic society," the document, filed in U.S. District Court in Honolulu, states.
Hawaii asked Judge Derrick K. Watson for an expedited hearing on the motion to file the temporary restraining order. If he agrees, the court will be able to hear the state's arguments before the ban goes into effect on March 16.
Neal Katyal, a Washington, D.C. attorney who is representing the state, tweeted Tuesday, "Here we go. Proud to stand w/State of Hawaii challenging Pres.Trump's 'new' Executive Order issued yesterday."
The order blocks travelers from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen from entering the country for 90 days, and all refugees for 120 days.
It also exempts permanent residents and current visa-holders.
But civil and human rights experts say it is essentially a scaled-down reprise of Trump's original memo, which banned the six countries in addition to Iraq, and banned Syrian refugees indefinitely--leading to its now-infamous "Muslim ban" moniker.
"It's about discrimination," Chin said at a press conference Tuesday. "It's discriminating against people based on their national origin or based on their religion. It's disenfranchising people who are not of the majority race or majority religion. It puts them in a place that smears their culture or a religion that is not accepted by everyone else. And that's wrong."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.