The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today welcomed a ruling by the full panel of 13 judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit that refused to lift a nationwide injunction blocking President Donald Trump’s revised “Muslim ban” executive order.
SEE: Appeals Court Slaps Down Donald Trump’s Travel Ban Yet Again
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fourth-circuit-ruling-travel-ban_us_591370cee4b0bc71ddae8831
The Federal appeals court issued a stinging opinion finding Trump administration used national security in bad faith as a pretext for religious discrimination.
“The question for this Court, distilled to its essential form, is whether the Constitution … remains law for rulers and people, equally in war and in peace,'” Fourth Circuit Chief Judge Roger Gregory wrote in the majority opinion. “And if so, whether it protects Plaintiffs’ right to challenge an Executive Order that in text speaks with vague words of national security, but in context drips with religious intolerance, animus, and discrimination.”
SEE: Full text of the 4th Circuit opinion here
“We welcome today’s ruling as a strong indication that the federal courts reject the ‘Muslim ban’ as unconstitutional and un-American,” said CAIR National Litigation Director Lena Masri.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement Thursday that the Justice Department “strongly disagrees” with the decision and will be seeking a review of the case in the Supreme Court.
CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.