In a 5-4 ruling on Tuesday that further demonstrated how much the “stolen Supreme Court seat is paying off for Republicans,” Justice Neil Gorsuch joined his fellow conservatives on the nation’s highest court in voting to uphold President Donald Trump’s Muslim ban.
“This is a dark day for America. The Supreme Court ruling in Trump v. Hawaii betrays our constitution and advances fear, rather than facts,” Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) said in a statement following the Supreme Court’s decision. “Despite the ruling today, my colleagues and I will keep fighting against the Trump administration’s bigoted, Islamophobic agenda. We are not alone and we are not without hope.”
“I am deeply disappointed that this ruling gives legitimacy to discrimination and Islamophobia,” added Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.). “Like the Korematsu decision that upheld Japanese internment camps or Plessy v. Ferguson that established ‘separate but equal,’ this decision will someday serve as a marker of shame.”
This Supreme Court term is almost certainly the most conservative in the 21st century so far. A complete and total wipe-out for liberals. And it's all thanks to Justice Neil Gorsuch, who cast the fifth vote in each high-profile, bitterly divided 5–4 decision.
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) June 26, 2018
After echoing Ellison in denouncing the right-wing court’s ruling as “another shameful mark on our history,” the National Immigrant Law Center (NILC) called on Americans to rally outside of the Supreme Court to voice their outrage at a policy that critics say is clearly driven by a desire to discriminate against Muslims.
Join us at 11:45am ET in front of the Supreme Court. We must make it known loudly and clearly: we won’t stop fighting until there is #NoMuslimBanEver https://t.co/iSeX1i5vuk
— National Immigration Law Center (@NILC_org) June 26, 2018
In her dissent on Tuesday, Justice Sonia Sotomayor argued that the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has decided to leave “undisturbed a policy first advertised openly and unequivocally as a ‘total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States’ because the policy now masquerades behind a façade of national-security concerns.”
“This repackaging does little to cleanse Presidential Proclamation No. 9645 of the appearance of discrimination that the president’s words have created. Based on the evidence in the record, a reasonable observer would conclude that the Proclamation was motivated by anti-Muslim animus,” Sotomayor wrote. “The majority holds otherwise by ignoring the facts, misconstruing our legal precedent, and turning a blind eye to the pain and suffering the Proclamation inflicts upon countless families and individuals, many of whom are United States citizens.”
The ban upheld by the Supreme Court restricts travel from Syria, Yemen, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Chad, Venezuela, and North Korea. The latter two nations were not included in earlier iterations of the ban.
Jamal Abdi, vice president of policy at the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), denounced the Supreme Court’s ruling as a “travesty” and vowed to mobilize in opposition.
“The effort to end the Muslim Ban is far from over,” Abdi said. “We will do everything in our power to organize our community and collaborate with other communities to ensure that Trump’s shameful policy is repealed by Congress.”
Top Photo | People carry posters during a rally against President Donald Trump’s executive order banning travel from seven Muslim-majority nations, in New York’s Times Square, Sunday, Feb. 19, 2017. (AP/Andres Kudacki)
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