This ruling highlights the fact that Trump and the Republican elected politicians and appointed officials, who have supported him in these Executive Orders, have in fact failed to adhere to their oaths to uphold the U.S. Constitution, -Melanie Nathan, Executive Director of African Human Rights Coalition
Tonight we celebrate the 4th Circuit decision to uphold the BAN on Trump’s Muslim travel ban and the denial of Trump’s second failed Executive Order which also sought to suspend the entire US Refugee Program.
Trump lost because in America it is unconstitutional to discriminate against a particular religion.
The 13 judge court of the 4th Circuit stated that the evidence “creates a compelling case that [the President’s second travel ban’s] primary purpose is religious” and that the President’s anti-Muslim campaign rhetoric “provides direct, specific evidence” of “President Trump’s desire to exclude Muslims from the United States.”
The court recognized that Trump’s motivation was to target a particular religion and it is abundantly clear that no matter how Trump may have sought to re-word or re-arrange his second failed Executive Order, there is no escaping his campaign jargon, where so many times over, he repeatedly called to keep people of the Muslim faith out of America. His motivation was clear and he could not escape the evidence against his attempt to assert otherwise.
This ruling highlights the fact that Trump, the 45th President of the United States and the Republican elected politicians and appointed officials, who have supported him in these Executive Orders, have in fact failed to adhere to their oaths to uphold the U.S. Constitution, working to support a breach so flagrantly and abhorrently discriminatory. The irresponsibility and malfeasance of these actions cannot be ignored by all decent patriotic Americans.
If they did not believe that discriminating against a religion is not part of the oath they took to uphold the U.S. Constitution, – then that in and of itself proves they are not fit to hold office. Such a flagrant defecation on the Constitution ought to be grounds for impeachment – surely?
Sally Yates, the acting Attorney General was fired by Trump because she defied him and refused to defend the Ban:
” She viewed the legal challenges, read case law and conferred with Justice Department lawyers before deciding that defending the ban would force her people to argue it “was not intended to disfavor Muslims,” even though the past words of Trump and his surrogates implied otherwise.
“I believed that this would require us to advance a pretext, a defense not grounded in truth,” Yates told the graduates, “so I directed the Department of Justice not to defend the ban.””
Sally Yates understood her oath. Donald Trump and his new attorney general, Jeff Sessions clearly do not or purposely defied it in the name of singling out a particular religion.
The importance in speaking out against these Executive Orders, especially with this Court endorsement of our Constitution and our values, cannot be underestimated. We must now amplify our voices as we seek to remedy and heal the damage done by Trump and his administration. And we must ensure accountability
The enormous damage is palpable – it is time to speak out vigorously in favor of this ruling so we can start to heal from the harm to our Country’s reputation and the actual harm caused to people all around the world, especially people of the Muslim faith, as well as all refugees.
The U.S. refugee programs have been held up and refugees have continued to suffer unconscionable delays – delays which often involve life or death for some. LGBTI refugees in Africa, and others, have been dramatically impacted by what seems like a continued attempt by Trump’s people to defy the TRO against his ban by using extraneous means to slow things down and even to thwart some resettlement in many instances. I can provide more insight into this to any journalist who may be interested in pursuing Trump’s defiance.
In America we have a lot of work to do to fix Trump’s damage. It should start with chastising him! Trumps position and underlying motivation for the Executive Orders have served to exacerbate the violence and persecution that his campaign rhetoric encouraged against people of the Muslim faith, as well as against others such as Sikh and Hindu communities.
Trump lost because what he did was reprehensible and wrong. Speak out. Be a true American. Lets hold all elected and appointed officials accountable. Keep resisting. Do not give up!
By Melanie Nathan
Commissionermnathan@gmail.com
@MelanieNathan1