The revised Trump administration immigration ban executive order faces at least three immediate court challenges on Wednesday, just hours before it is scheduled to go into effect after midnight.
Federal judges in Maryland, Hawaii and Washington state will consider facts in the cases before deciding if or when to take any action to delay the temporary restrictions on immigrant travel from six predominantly Muslim Middle Eastern countries, as well as a temporary refugee ban on all nations.On Wednesday morning in Maryland, Judge Theodore D. Chuang will consider requests for an injunction made by individual immigrants and refugee groups, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Immigration Law Center.
Later in the afternoon, a federal judge in Hawaii, Derek K. Watson, will consider arguments made by Hawaii’s attorney general that the revised immigration order hurts the state’s public universities and its economy.
About 90 minutes after the hearing starts in Hawaii, federal judge James Robart in Seattle will consider another challenge to the immigration ban, in the same jurisdiction where his temporary restraining order led to the redrafted executive order from the White House. For now, Robart will consider arguments in a separate case about the impact of the bans on relatives overseas of U.S. residents.
Also in Seattle, seven states are asking Robart to leave his original temporary restraining order in place. It’s unclear if Robart will act on those requests in the near future.
In all three jurisdictions, the Justice Department has argued that its first and second executive orders were lawful and that the plaintiffs don’t have a right to have the new executive order stopped temporarily across the entire country.
The Justice Department also believes the elimination of a provision from the original order about preferences for religious minorities also eliminates any question that the orders were a “Muslim ban.”
The courts’ actions today will be closely watched not only for their potential to temporarily delay the immigrations bans, but also for clues from the judges that they believe the revised order deals with constitutional issues raised in courts over the past six weeks about religious discrimination, due process and equal protection.
Those fundamental questions could take at least one of the challenges to the Supreme Court at some point, experts believe.
Scott Bomboy is the editor in chief of the National Constitution Center.Recent Stories on Constitution Daily
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