It's certainly worthwhile to examine and deliberately address issues such as immigration and vetting people who come into this country. But Trump's Executive Order was sloppily constructed and poorly tailored to actual problems, without much (if any) input from constitutional lawyers or people with common sense, and it is most likely unconstitutional. A thinking man would be careful in turning out Executive Orders that take away people's rights and legal expectations. Trump's attack on the court system adds to the embarrassment. This is not how to run a country.
So far, everything this administration touches turns into a disaster of epic proportions. Its half-baked, selective “Muslim Ban” fails on its own terms—it has no relationship to the goal of reducing the risk of terrorist violence from people entering the country. Independent of that mismatch, the overwhelming scholarly evidence suggests that Trump’s approach to violent jihadism will make us less safe—including by undermining counter-terrorism cooperation with key partners.
Moreover, so little thought was placed into implementing this rushed, crayon-scrawled order that the Pentagon has had to scramble to continue to train Iraqi pilots. The examples of barely controlled chaos are simply too long to chronicle here, but all of this came to a depressing punchline yesterday when the former Norwegian Prime Minister—traveling on a Diplomatic Passport—found himself detained for an hour because of his past travel to Iran. ~ The Trump Administration: It’s as Bad as it Looks
Trump Blasts "So-Called Judge" Over "Ridiculous" Travel Ban Ruling
Courtesy of Zero Hedge
Following the latest dramatic twist in the ordeal surrounding Trump's Immigration Executive Order, when on Friday night Seattle Federal Judge Robart (appointed by George W. Bush in 2003) blocked Trump's travel ban from seven Muslim countries, the White House promptly responded by stating that it intends to file an emergency stay of this "outrageous order and defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate."
Earlier, on Friday night, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson disagreed when he greeted Robart's ruling saying “It is not the loudest voice that prevails on the Constitution,” and added "we are a nation of laws, not even the president can violate the Constitution. It's our president's duty to honor this ruling and I'll make sure he does."
And so, with Trump's Executive Order now a constitutional matter and almost certainly headed to the Supreme Court, where the judicial opinion of Trump's recent appointment Neil Gorsuch will soon be tested, on Saturday morning Trump wasted no time to attack "the opinion of so-called Judge" Robart, which Trump said "essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country" and warned the ruling "is ridiculous and will be overturned!"
He prefaced this warning for a showdown by saying that "when a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot , come in & out, especially for reasons of safety &.security – big trouble!" and defending his decision by invoking other Middle-eastern nations who allegedly "agree with the ban" (using a word which Sean Spicer would have preferred he did not as he will be brutalized by the press corps for it on Monday).
As expected, Trump himself was immediately attacked on social media for his "so-called" hint he disagrees with the separation of powers as per article III, section 1 of the Constitution which, as a reminder, reads: "Judicial power of the US shall be vested in the Courts." Others have asked, rhetorically, what would happen if the situation was reversed:
Trump has lashed out at judges he disagreed with in the past as well: during last year’s presidential campaign, Trump slammed the “Mexican heritage” of Indiana-born Judge Gonzalo Curiel as a reason he should recuse himself from lawsuits regarding Trump University, a legal matter which he eventually ended up settling.
So get ready for the dramatic showdown, as the fate of Trump's executive order is soon set to play out inside the Supreme Court of the United States.
