UPDATE: Hawai‘i Files Travel Ban Opposition in Supreme Court

President Donald Trump’s official portrait from Wikimedia Commons.

UPDATE: June 12, 10:16 a.m.

Gov. David Ige issued the following statement today regarding the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision affirming Hawaii v. Trump:

“Hawai‘i made the right decision in challenging a travel ban that had little factual basis and discriminated based strictly on national origin and religion. We will continue to stand against any attempts to erode the Constitution’s protections and to violate existing laws.”

UPDATE: June 12, 9:38 a.m.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Hawaii v. Trump upheld a nationwide injunction against President Donald Trump’s Revised Executive Order, dated March 6, 2017.

The order sought to ban travel from six Muslim-majority nations and suspend refugee admissions to the U.S. Today’s decision affirms the orders issued in March by Hawai‘i federal district court Judge Derrick K. Watson enjoining the controversial travel and refugee bans from going forward.

“I stated from the beginning that the president must act in a way that follows the laws and Constitution of the United States,” said Attorney General Doug Chin. “Our system of checks and balances, enshrined in the Constitution for more than 225 years, remains in place.”

The opinion noted that, “[i]mmigration, even for the president, is not a one-person show” and that “[n]ational security is not a ‘talismanic incantation’ that, once invoked, can support any and all exercise of executive power” under federal immigration laws.

On May 15, 2017, the State of Hawai‘i argued in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of Hawaii federal district court Judge Derrick K. Watson’s orders enjoining President Trump’s Executive Order nationwide.

 PREVIOUS POST: June 12, 8:29 a.m.

On June 1, 2017, President Donald Trump’s administration asked the United States Supreme Court to stay the injunction in Hawai‘i v. Trump that has blocked implementation of the travel ban.

The State of Hawai‘i filed its memorandum in opposition to that motion today, Monday, June 12, in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Hawai‘i’s memorandum in opposition states in part:

“Our foundational text, the First Amendment, bars the government from making a citizen’s status in the political community dependent on his faith. The president unquestionably violates that command when he issues an order that disproportionately burdens Muslim-Americans, while denigrating the Muslim faith and making it abundantly clear that the order’s harmful effect on Muslims is far from incidental. To date, the injunction has prevented that constitutional violation. In doing so, it has safeguarded religious liberty and demonstrated the strength of our Constitution and the courts that protect it. Nonetheless, the government now asks this court to stay the injunction … [t]he long-term consequences [of a stay] would be even more significant. As soon as the unconstitutional order is implemented, our framers’ greatest fears for this nation will be realized; the order will serve as an ominous ‘Beacon on our Coast, warning’ the ‘persecuted and oppressed of every Nation and religion’ that they must ‘seek some other haven.’”

Download a copy of Hawai‘i’s memorandum in opposition.

Download Judge Watson’s opinion here.

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) released the following statement on the Ninth Circuit Court’s ruling against President Trump’s revised Muslim ban.

“The Ninth Circuit’s decision to uphold Judge Watson’s ruling against President Trump’s Muslim ban is another win for the rule of law,” said Sen. Schatz. “The courts continue to affirm what we already know: the Muslim ban is un-American, unconstitutional and contrary to everything we stand for.”