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
More States Sue to Block Trump's "Muslim Ban By Another Name"
"It's my expectation that we will continue to prevail, and certainly my expectation that the president will continue to respect the decision of the court"
Mar 09, 2017
At least three more states are suing President Donald Trump over his new travel ban, as Washington state--whose legal action suspended the original executive order--said Thursday that it would renew its request to block the revised one.
Washington's Attorney General Bob Ferguson said both Oregon and New York are joining his state's legal challenge to the new order, which blocks travelers from six majority-Muslim countries from entering the U.S. for 90 days, and blocks refugees for 120.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman also said that Minnesota would be taking part in the lawsuit.
Ferguson said the court will decide whether the new ban, which affects travelers from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, exempting current visa holders, is similar enough to the original memo to be covered under the same restraining order that suspended the first one days after it was signed. That memo also banned Iraqi travelers from entering the U.S. for 90 days and blocked Syrian refugees indefinitely.
"It cannot be a game of whack-a-mole for the court," Ferguson said. "That TRO [temporary restraining order] we've already obtained remains in effect."
Critics say the new order boils down to a scaled-back version of the original "Muslim ban" that prompted widespread protests and legal actions in January.
The new round of lawsuits follows in Hawaii's footsteps, which became the first state to challenge the new order on Tuesday. Both Ferguson and Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin argue that the ban is unconstitutional and would hurt their states' respective economies and educational institutions.
"We've won in court, and the president has had to honor those defeats," Ferguson said. "It's my expectation that we will continue to prevail, and certainly my expectation that the president will continue to respect the decision of the court."
Schneiderman separately said Thursday, "President Trump's latest executive order is 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."
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.
At least three more states are suing President Donald Trump over his new travel ban, as Washington state--whose legal action suspended the original executive order--said Thursday that it would renew its request to block the revised one.
Washington's Attorney General Bob Ferguson said both Oregon and New York are joining his state's legal challenge to the new order, which blocks travelers from six majority-Muslim countries from entering the U.S. for 90 days, and blocks refugees for 120.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman also said that Minnesota would be taking part in the lawsuit.
Ferguson said the court will decide whether the new ban, which affects travelers from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, exempting current visa holders, is similar enough to the original memo to be covered under the same restraining order that suspended the first one days after it was signed. That memo also banned Iraqi travelers from entering the U.S. for 90 days and blocked Syrian refugees indefinitely.
"It cannot be a game of whack-a-mole for the court," Ferguson said. "That TRO [temporary restraining order] we've already obtained remains in effect."
Critics say the new order boils down to a scaled-back version of the original "Muslim ban" that prompted widespread protests and legal actions in January.
The new round of lawsuits follows in Hawaii's footsteps, which became the first state to challenge the new order on Tuesday. Both Ferguson and Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin argue that the ban is unconstitutional and would hurt their states' respective economies and educational institutions.
"We've won in court, and the president has had to honor those defeats," Ferguson said. "It's my expectation that we will continue to prevail, and certainly my expectation that the president will continue to respect the decision of the court."
Schneiderman separately said Thursday, "President Trump's latest executive order is 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."
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.
At least three more states are suing President Donald Trump over his new travel ban, as Washington state--whose legal action suspended the original executive order--said Thursday that it would renew its request to block the revised one.
Washington's Attorney General Bob Ferguson said both Oregon and New York are joining his state's legal challenge to the new order, which blocks travelers from six majority-Muslim countries from entering the U.S. for 90 days, and blocks refugees for 120.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman also said that Minnesota would be taking part in the lawsuit.
Ferguson said the court will decide whether the new ban, which affects travelers from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, exempting current visa holders, is similar enough to the original memo to be covered under the same restraining order that suspended the first one days after it was signed. That memo also banned Iraqi travelers from entering the U.S. for 90 days and blocked Syrian refugees indefinitely.
"It cannot be a game of whack-a-mole for the court," Ferguson said. "That TRO [temporary restraining order] we've already obtained remains in effect."
Critics say the new order boils down to a scaled-back version of the original "Muslim ban" that prompted widespread protests and legal actions in January.
The new round of lawsuits follows in Hawaii's footsteps, which became the first state to challenge the new order on Tuesday. Both Ferguson and Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin argue that the ban is unconstitutional and would hurt their states' respective economies and educational institutions.
"We've won in court, and the president has had to honor those defeats," Ferguson said. "It's my expectation that we will continue to prevail, and certainly my expectation that the president will continue to respect the decision of the court."
Schneiderman separately said Thursday, "President Trump's latest executive order is 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."
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.