In summary
As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to consider President Trump’s controversial travel ban, California is officially weighing in with a friend of the court brief.
As the United States Supreme Court gears up to hear oral argument on President Trump’s controversial travel ban, California is officially weighing in.
Today California Attorney General Xavier Becerra co-signed a brief calling upon the country’s highest court to reject an “unconstitutional, blatantly discriminatory” policy directed at the citizens of six Muslim-majority countries. The state’s top law enforcement officer joins seventeen attorneys general from across the country in signing on.
In the past, Becerra has argued that the travel ban would harm California’s school system, tourism sector and sizable refugee community.
Ever since President Trump issued the travel order as one of his first actions in the Oval Office, the administration has been locked in a legal battle. After the initial order was stymied by a series of court decisions, the White House introduced a narrower ban in March.
That revised policy bars entry from citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Unlike the first ban, the new one exempts current green-card holders, visa holders and refugees, along with those who have close family members residing in the United States.
Even so, both the State of Hawaii and the non-profit International Refugee Assistance Project have sued the administration, arguing the ban is motivated by an unconstitutional animus toward Muslims.
Last July, the Supreme Court gave the Trump administration permission to enact the ban while the various legal challenges against it make their way through the courts.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments for and against the ban on Oct. 10.