Trump's lawyers defend travel ban in 4th Circuit

Politico 

By Marianne Levine

May 09, 2017

Trump's lawyers defend travel ban in 4th Circuit 

TRUMP’S LAWYERS DEFEND TRAVEL BAN IN 4th CIRCUIT: Judges at the Richmond-based Fourth Circuit asked President Donald Trump’s lawyers Monday to defend the administration’s travel ban against a challenge arguing that it discriminates against Muslims. The ban was blocked in part by a district judge in Maryland earlier this year. At the center of Monday’s oral arguments was the question of whether the ban should be taken at face value or within the context of Trump’s campaign pledge to halt Muslim immigration.

Acting Solicitor General Jeff Wall told judges that candidate Trump’s comments shouldn’t be a factor because the ban itself was “neutral” with regard to religion. Even if the campaign comments were taken into consideration, Wall said, Trump had since taken the presidential oath, “faced the demands of government,” and “consulted with an administration” to craft a lawful policy. “Candidates talk about things on the campaign trail all the time,” Wall said.

Some conservatives on the panel seemed receptive to Wall’s arguments. Judge Paul V. Niemeyer, a George H.W. Bush nominee, told lawyers for the refugee-aid groups challenging the ban that they were asking “judges all over the country … to supervise the president’s national security actions.”

What’s next? The 13-judge panel will likely take weeks to issue an opinion in a case that is likely to end up before Supreme Court. Next week the action shifts to the 9th Circuit, where oral arguments on a separate challenge to the ban will be heard. 

For more information, go to:  www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com