While the Supreme Court hasn’t heard the case yet (but is still allowing it to be implemented in the interim), President Trump’s travel ban that mostly targets people from Muslim countries has repeatedly been struck down by lower courts.
In yet another legal setback, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals voted 9-4 to rule against the ban, saying it violated the Constitution by discriminating based on race. In their decision, the court cited President Trump’s own words, including his retweeting of anti-Muslim videos and dissemination of conspiracy theories about Muslims. Fourth Circuit Chief Judge Roger Gregory wrote the following:
“Examining official statements from President Trump and other executive branch officials, along with the proclamation itself, we conclude that the proclamation is unconstitutionally tainted with animus toward Islam.”
Judge Gregory also called the President’s own words “undisputed evidence of such bias.” The 4th Circuit’s ruling goes further than previous rulings that only said the ban violated federal immigration law (while hinting at a possible constitutional violation), which the Supreme Court will tackle when it takes up the case in April.
The third version of Trump’s travel ban targets people from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.
(Via Reuters)