Yesterday President Trump expressed great confidence that the appeals court would quickly overturn the “so-called” judge who issued a Temporary Restraining Order or tro halting implementation of his permanent anti-Muslim ban on any immigrants or refugees entering the United States from Syria and his temporary ban on people from 6 other predominantly Muslim countries.
Midnight massacre
Just after midnight Pacific coast time, February 5th, the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (San Francisco) rejected the Trump Department of Justice’s appeal that the Seattle Judge’s TRO be blocked.
That means the travel ban against those coming from Syria, Iran, Iraq (US ally in fight against ISIS in Mosul), Yemen, The Sudan, Libya, and Somalia is now on hold until the original court, District Judge James Robart (Seattle, Washington State), can hear the Justice Department’s argument before making the TRO a permanent restraining order.
A former New York prosecutor and head of the agency’s appeals bureau, told Blastingnews on Saturday that it would be unusual for an appeals court to overturn a Temporary Restraining Order by a lower court.
The final decision on this case could easily take months, potentially long past the end of the ban itself likely making any further fight against it a meaningless gesture.
Trump conflict of interest
President Trump tweeted on Friday that the Paris Louvre attack justified his ban.
A new radical Islamic terrorist has just attacked in Louvre Museum in Paris. Tourists were locked down. France on edge again. GET SMART U.S.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2017
What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017
Unlike the earlier Bowling Green defense, which was totally made up by Kellyanne Conway, the Louvre attack actually did happen but rather than strengthen President Trump’s argument it actually pointed out again just how baseless it really was.
The alleged Louvre attacker, who only slightly injured one policeman before being shot three times, didn’t come from any of the seven nations under the Trump Ban, instead he was born in Egypt, just like one of the 9/11 hijackers, the other basis given by the Trump White House for the recent ban.
Like the other 9/11 hijackers who came from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon, the Paris attacker also came from Egypt, a mid-East country which does not have Trump hotels or other major business operations with the Trump Organization.
No attack in the US has taken place in the past forty years by someone from any of the 7 countries under the Trump travel and refugee ban.
After the TRO was issued people holding valid visas from those countries rushed to try and get back into the US before the ban could be reinstated by another court but it now looks as if they will have time to make arrangements to travel on their legally obtained visas which took up to 18 months of vetting to obtain in the first place.
