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Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

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Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

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You are here: Home / Politics / America / Breaking News: US Federal District Court Judge Has Issued a Temporary Stay of the Immigration Executive Order

Breaking News: US Federal District Court Judge Has Issued a Temporary Stay of the Immigration Executive Order

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Joy Ann Reid on All In on MSNBC has just reported that in response to a suit brought by the Washington State Attorney General that a Federal District Court Judge has issued a temporary stay of the immigration Executive Order issued last Friday. The stay is effective immediately.

This will likely be appealed, but for now the Executive Order has been stayed and people may go and come from the United States they way they always have.

Here’s Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s press release:

AG FERGUSON OBTAINS COURT ORDER HALTING TRUMP IMMIGRATION ACTION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Feb 3 2017

Judge grants nationwide Temporary Restraining Order against President’s Executive Order

SEATTLE — A federal judge in Seattle today granted Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s request to immediately halt implementation of President Donald Trump’s Executive Order on immigration nationwide.

The Temporary Restraining Order will remain in place until U.S. District Court Senior Judge James L. Robart considers the Attorney General’s lawsuit challenging key provisions of the President’s order as illegal and unconstitutional. If Ferguson prevails, the Executive Order would be permanently invalidated nationwide.

To obtain the Temporary Restraining Order, the state needed to prove that its underlying lawsuit was likely to succeed, that irreparable harm was likely to occur without the restraining order, and that halting the President’s order immediately is in the public interest. The state also needed to establish that the potential injury to Washington residents caused by leaving the President’s order in place outweighs any potential damage from halting it.

Judge Robart, who was nominated to the court by President George W. Bush in 2003, ruled that Ferguson had met the high standards necessary to block the Executive Order until the court reaches the merits of the lawsuit.

“The Constitution prevailed today,” Ferguson said. “No one is above the law — not even the President.”

Washington became the first state to challenge the President’s order on Monday. Ferguson argues that the Executive Order violates the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of Equal Protection and the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, infringes individuals’ constitutional right to Due Process and contravenes the federal Immigration and Nationality Act.

Major Washington state institutions supported the Attorney General’s lawsuit through declarations filed alongside the complaint. In their declarations, for example, Amazon and Expedia set forth the detrimental ways the Executive Order impacts their operations and their employees.

Minnesota, led by Attorney General Lori Swanson, joined Ferguson’s amended complaint filed Thursday. In addition, since Washington brought its action, Massachusetts, New York and Virginia intervened in similar lawsuits challenging the Executive Order in their respective jurisdictions.

Solicitor General Noah Purcell, Deputy Solicitor General Anne Egeler and Solicitor General’s Office Fellow Kelly Paradis, as well as members of the Wing Luke Civil Rights Unit, including Unit Chief Colleen Melody and Assistant Attorneys General Patricio Marquez and Marsha Chien, are handling the case.

-30-

 

The Office of the Attorney General is the chief legal office for the state of Washington with attorneys and staff in 27 divisions across the state providing legal services to roughly 200 state agencies, boards and commissions. Visit www.atg.wa.gov to learn more.

Reader Interactions

172Comments

  2. 2.

    Aleta

    A Department of Homeland Security official told NBC News that the judge’s order will have no immediate practical effect. All previously issued visas from the seven affected countries were canceled by last week’s executive order, the official said, meaning people would have to reapply.

    -NBC news

    Dual citizenship status is said to be OK>

  3. 3.

    mai naem mobile

    The Wittle Boy is going to have a tweet meltdown tonight. Hope the judge has good security because the Trumpkin thugs will be out in force tonight.

  5. 5.

    Lurking Canadian

    This will likely be appealed, but for now the Executive Order has been stayed and people may go and come from the United States they way they always have.

    You seem to be assuming facts not in evidence: namely that the border patrol personnel give a shit what Federal District Court Judges say. Their recent track record in that regard is not reassuring.

  6. 6.

    scav

    people may go and come from the United States they way they always have.

    I’m sure everyone will just fling their hat in the air and jump on an airplane immediately. And those o-so-fond of stability corporations will likewise relax about critical employees. That’s a dry humor you are packing there son.

  7. 7.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @Lurking Canadian: Indeed… indeed… and what recourse do ‘we’ have if the Thrumptonians just decide to ignore what the judge says?

    Didn’t the union the ICE agents belong to back Trump?

  9. 9.

    ? Martin

    I don’t think TROs can be appealed, given that they are temporary. The judge has determined that the State of Washington has standing to sue, so the place for the Trump administration to object is in the actual case.

    But I remain skeptical that the Trump administration will respect the TRO.

  11. 11.

    dmsilev

    The Office of the Attorney General is the chief legal office for the state of Washington with attorneys and staff in 27 divisions across the state providing legal services to roughly 200 state agencies, boards and commissions.

    The Attorney General! How many divisions has he got?

    (With apologies, I suppose, to Joseph Stalin)

  12. 12.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Lurking Canadian: @scav: You’re right. This is terrible news. The Federal judge is clearly setting a trap to get tourists, foreign students, foreign workers, and other immigrants to try to come here so that they can be detained at the airport upon arrival. They’re all in on it.

    For someone’s, anyone’s, no one’s Deity’s sake: get a grip! Something positive and right happens and you all act like ninnies. Yes, I’m aware that C&BP were absolutely retched last weekend. But we can either recognize and celebrate that the Rule of Law is being reinforced, even if its only a little bit, isn’t settled, and might require someone to go back to this Federal Judge over the weekend to get a contempt citation to force C&BP to do their jobs. If this should happen, C&BP will not get off easy as I’m sure the Federal Judge in question will not want his weekend ruined because a bunch of GS 10s at an airport somewhere can’t be bothered to do what they’re supposed to do. If this is how you react when there is a win, albeit a limited and conditional one, you’re going to be useless when the shit actually hits the fan.

  15. 15.

    Gin & Tonic

    @? Martin: If you were put back on a plane to Egypt or Sudan and your visa was cancelled, you’re SOL regardless of whether they respect the TRO or not.

  16. 16.

    ChrisB

    @Lurking Canadian: There is a statement from the border patrol that it will respect the order. No response from the White House.

    But it is hard to say how the border patrol actually will act on the ground. It may still hold people up.

  17. 17.

    Mike in NC

    This is the way to handle Trump: drag every loony EO he signs should be dragged through the courts for months.

  18. 18.

    Larkspur

    @Adam L Silverman: Thank you. I don’t know nearly as much as you, but my first thought was, “Yay! Resistance!” Like it’s actually a good thing even though it’s not a magic thing.

  19. 19.

    JordanRules

    There is amazing legal work being done at a fast clip on America’s behalf. Major props!

  20. 20.

    Adam L Silverman

    @? Martin: I’m listening to AG Ferguson now. He indicates it is appealable, but the restraining order was issued because Judge Robarts wants to hear the full arguments from both sides in his court. So the stay is until he can hear the actual case.

  22. 22.

    Teddys Person

    @dmsilev: I commented to a friend today that it feels like Lord Dampnuts has been president (I just threw up in my mouth a little bit typing that) for fucking ever.

  23. 23.

    chris

    This is nationwide which is great. Saw a tweet earlier saying Boston would let people in until 5Feb because of a local TRO.

  26. 26.

    scav

    @Adam L Silverman: I’m not contesting the fact that the individual event is good. If we can get the rule of law working, grand. But, people are not going to immediatly forget the preciptating event, that danger and the ongoing danger that it will all change back will continue to impact decisions made by individuals and corporations.

  27. 27.

    Peale

    @Aleta: ok. This is just nuts. Were the visas cancelled for both people who were outside and who were inside the country or not? If you were here on a tourist visa, are you now an overstay? If you are a refugee from Syria and it was actually the Jordanian embassy that processed your visa application are you in or out?

  29. 29.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Larkspur: I’m not trying to dump on anyone, but defeatism isn’t going to help. Neither is panic. This judge is a George W. Bush appointee. He has, according to AG Ferguson, that Washington’s suit, brought in conjunction with Minnesota, has merit and is likely to succeed at argument. Hence the TRO. There will be, as we’ve all suggested or speculated, an assault on the Rule of Law. When we get evidence that the Rule of Law will be upheld, and when its coming from a conservative judge, that is cause for optimism. Its not the end of things, but campaigns are not one all at once. The first objective has been taken. There are many more to go.

  34. 34.

    Adam L Silverman

    @scav: No argument here and if I’m picking a fight or just picking on you where that’s not warranted, I apologize. Yes, incalculable damage has and is being done, but there are signs of hope and progress. This TRO today. The fact that our civil society seems far more resilient than people expected leading to the pushback in protests, demonstrations, attendance at Congressional constituent meetings/town halls, calls to elected officials, etc.

  35. 35.

    ? Martin

    One thing that really bothers me about the approach being taken by the Trump admin – him, Spicer, etc. is that they come off as being so fucking terrified of everything. Even GWB could generally present reasoned explanations for why we do things, but this is constantly being presented as everyone who comes to the US is going to cut off someone’s head.

    The US is not a chickenshit country, but it sure looks like we’re marketing it as one.

  38. 38.

    Adam L Silverman

    @ChrisB: The 9th is the most liberal circuit. Their is an internal process at the 9th Circuit, under the supervision of the Chief Judge of the Circuit, for naming the three judge panel.

  42. 42.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @EBT:

    It will never happen, of course, but I yearn for a day that every MSM outlet in the country simply refused to cover Republican President*. Just one day in which no reporters showed up for a press briefing or photo op, no talking heads elbowed for prime spots on the WH lawn to do the morning shows. One day in which the Republican President*’s name and picture didn’t appear in the WaPo, NYT, Time Magazine, People, or any other print media.

  43. 43.

    JMG

    Please listen to Adam. The Roberts Court is reactionary, but one thing they will react to with extreme prejudice is a challenge to the authority of the federal courts. If the Trump administration doesn’t listen to ’em, why should anyone else?

  45. 45.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @Baud: Yup… he’s clearly a bully and every bully I’ve ever dealt w/ is a coward on the flip side…

    One of the few axiomatic rules for human behavior you can really bank on…

  47. 47.

    ? Martin

    @debbie: I think what you’re going to see is some measure of coordination among state AGs. The sheer volume of lawsuits that are going to come would overwhelm any one AG office, but if CA can take up the sanctuary city and energy stuff, and WA the travel ban, etc. they can certainly put their efforts behind other suits, but everyone can take the lead on this or that.

  48. 48.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    I was always a bit pointlessly proud of growing up in Philadelphia, an important city in early US history.

    Today, my pride in living in Washington is just as high (and yeah, just as pointless, since I wasn’t asked, BUT STILL).

  50. 50.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @? Martin:

    The US is not a chickenshit country, but it sure looks like we’re marketing it as one.

    Land of the free and home of the brave my aged white ass.

    Edit: Obviously (I hope), I refer to our “leaders,” not to the American people in general.

  51. 51.

    Renie

    good reason to donate to ACLU; courts may be our only hope to stop this insanity cuz your know the GOP won’t do anything to stop him

  52. 52.

    Adam L Silverman

    @JMG: Exactly. Its one thing for legislation or a Supreme Court ruling that returns an issue to the states so that each one can work out their own response a la the laboratories of democracy idea under the “states have powers” portion of the 10th Amendment. That is a far cry from having states or the Federal government just ignore Federal Court rulings wholesale because they’re inconvenient. Without throwing the thread way, way off topic, this is actually the real issue with the Heller and McDonald rulings regarding firearm ownerships. Lower courts, states, and municipalities basically state “yes, we acknowledge and accept Heller and McDonald” and then they just act as if they don’t exist. I’m not arguing that either was or was not a correctly decided case, but having Federal, including Supreme Court decisions that are just ignored is not good. In some ways this is also what happens with a lot of states when they approach Roe V Wade and Casey V Pennsylvania.

  53. 53.

    Lurking Canadian

    @Adam L Silverman:

    The Federal judge is clearly setting a trap to get tourists, foreign students, foreign workers, and other immigrants to try to come here so that they can be detained at the airport upon arrival. They’re all in on it.

    At the risk of sounding belligerent, where the hell did I say anything like that? I have no doubt the judge in question is an honest servant of the law.

    But there were numerous reports last weekend of border patrol officers ignoring court orders and telling those trying to serve said orders to take it up with Trump. If there is something special about this court order that makes you think it has power those other court orders did not have, that’s terrific, but it is not obvious.

  55. 55.

    Gin & Tonic

    Hey Adam, you keeping on eye on Belarus? Aleksandr Lukashenka morphing into a freedom fighter, or what?

  57. 57.

    Wapiti

    @SiubhanDuinne: At a minimum, all of the legitimate television/cable press should have Trump and his staff on a tape delay, so the reporters can call out the lies. This should go for everything, up to and including the State of the Union address.

  58. 58.

    ChrisB

    @Adam L Silverman: Yes. Makes me think that the White House wouldn’t want to appeal through the 9th Circuit since a loss there would stand if SCOTUS deadlocks 4-4. But what choice does the White House have if the Washington District Court’s order is effective nationwide?

  59. 59.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    @? Martin: Yes, that is one thing that *really* upsets me. The definition of “cowardice” is that quality that causes a person to do something (or fail to do something) they know they shouldn’t (/should) because of fear. Since 9/11, so much of our nation has been shaped by cowardice that it really sickens me.

    (The only thing that’s worse? I once pointed out that invading Iraq was cowardly – that the risks didn’t justify invasion. One person actually argued that, no, it wasn’t FEAR it was ANGER. How do you respond to someone who makes an argument that’s the moral equivalent of “I’m angry at my boss so I went home and beat my wife?” I mean, other than getting their wife the (expletive deleted) out of Dodge, which wasn’t possible since Iraq was already out of Dodge, and wow, is this metaphor melange strained!)

  60. 60.

    ? Martin

    @SiubhanDuinne: Well, I fall back on one of Obama’s core viewpoints, that the US was sufficiently powerful and stable that we alone could afford to be generous with other nations in order to resolve disputes. We could give Iran some space and trust, because we have the capability to intervene and contain them should it not work out. That’s a powerful concept of America. That’s what american exceptionalism has always really meant – we could afford to be first on the moon, first to address climate change, first to extend a hand to a foreign nation, and yes, first on the beach if needed. That is an inherently courageous view of America.

  61. 61.

    JordanRules

    @Adam L Silverman: And my AZ Senators are all about breaking up the 9th circuit. I’m inclined to think this will become even more important for the GOP as these legal battles, and many more to come, threaten their common agenda with the Trump admin.

  62. 62.

    Lizzy L

    @Adam L Silverman: Preach, brother! Defeatism is so tiresome. The Rs in Congress are running scared: more than one cowardly Congresscritter and Senator has made him/her self unavailable to constituents because the push back has been so constant and strong. This — the phone calls, the marches, the immigration lawyers at work, the people showing up spontaneously at the airports — is American democracy proving that it still lives. 45 and those Breitbart scumsuckers can’t kill it. Push back push back push back. Resist.

  64. 64.

    ? Martin

    @Lurking Canadian:

    But there were numerous reports last weekend of border patrol officers ignoring court orders and telling those trying to serve said orders to take it up with Trump.

    I think you’re misinterpreting that. There were numerous border patrol officers who were saying ‘take it up with Trump’ because nobody in their chain of command knew what the fuck was going on. That is a fairly standard tactic of a pissed off low-level employee who is looking out for their equally pissed off boss. It’s a sign of frustration.

  67. 67.

    AliceBlue

    Thank you Adam. I was feeling pretty down tonight about everything, but this put a smile on my face. Hell yes, I’ll celebrate a victory, no matter how small or incremental.

  68. 68.

    Mnemosyne

    @JMG:

    Given that Trump’s favorite president is Andrew “Trail of Tears” Jackson, I am also nervous that he will ignore the courts. We’ll have to wait and see, I suppose.

  69. 69.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @efgoldman:

    I’m not talking about forever, just one 24-hour press strike or ban or boycott or whatever you may call it. For one thing, he would go absofuckinglutely batshit crazy if he woke up to find that he wasn’t the lead story. By that time, of course, the media would be back to covering him so they’d see the meltdown in more or less real time.

    For another thing, it would be good for the news consumer. The normal reader/viewer, absent the latest Trumpian outrage or tweet coverage or whatever, would be forced to listen to some other news, maybe even from another part of the world.

    Just 24 hours is all I’m asking.

    And remember, I did say that I know it’ll never happen :-)

  70. 70.

    Demsrwackos

    Have any of u dems actually read the constitution? These people are a threat to our nation. Some here ILLEGALLY. Where is the common sense on the word ILLEGAL? Morons the lot of u!! Since when does a judge besides the supreme court have the authority to outweigh a presidential order designed to protect your freedoms. Unreal. The law is the law but convenient the way u dems bend it to your will when you dont agree. None of you cared when Obama was writing his EOs and shipping billions to terrorist countries.

  71. 71.

    japa21

    Here is my question. Does this ruling really have any impact in the here and now. If all visas for travelers from those counties have been revoked, how can they get here? Or does this basically negate the revocation that occurred? because my understanding is that that includes visas for people in this country and if they leave the country they won’t be allowed back in.
    Don’t get me wrong, i am thrilled with the TRO, but if the revocation of visas is not corrected,it doesn’t do what it needs to do.

  73. 73.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @Lizzy L:

    The Rs in Congress are running scared…

    This… the fact that they’re moving so quickly and are keeping really quiet about some of the crap they want to pull, to me, means they KNOW shit’s gonna hit the fan when the rest of us find out and that they’re really not sure they’re going to get away w/ it…

    I’ve never seen people so mad as they are now… the Tea party poutrage always seemed kinda phony to me… astro-turfed… but NOW people are furious to a degree I’ve never seen before… last time I saw anything close to this was during the Viet Nam era and I think this is more intense…

    Makes me feel good…

  74. 74.

    Mnemosyne

    @? Martin:

    I will probably stick with the classic kitty hat, but will admire any brain hats that I see.

    I’m not sure how many people realize what a huge crossover there is between scientists and knitters. I can think of several well-known knitting designers who started off in the sciences.

  75. 75.

    ? Martin

    @SiubhanDuinne: Well, there’s two things they could do which would help:

    1) Never run a Trump event live. Always run it from tape so you can have commentary ready to go.
    2) Don’t include his picture. It’s his picture that he cares about – that he’s on the cover, etc. Remember this story:

    “I have interviewed him multiple times,” Todd, the host of “Meet the Press,” said in an interview with Politico. “The amount of times he spends after the interview is over with the sound off. He wants to see what it all looked like.”

    “He will watch the whole thing on mute,” Todd said. “He thinks this way, and look, it’s an important insight in just understanding him. The visual stuff is very real beyond just himself.”

    So don’t put him on the cover. Put some proxy image for him instead. Don’t include a photo in the story, etc.

  76. 76.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @Mnemosyne: Isn’t jackson also the one who stabled his horse inside the WH?

    Somehow… that seems appropriate for Trump, given the amount of horse shit that must have produced…

  79. 79.

    Peale

    @japa21: none of this makes sense. It’s not like there’s “visa central” in the mall in the suburbs, where you go to apply. If they have to apply again, many people have to go back to start over. And then you have to wait. What are you applying for? An h1B if you were already had permanent residency? If you had to wait two years for your student visa, are you waiting 2 more? Or longer? Are you at the back of the line?

  80. 80.

    MomSense

    @? Martin:

    I saw that the other day. So funny. I’m going to make some but the problem with them is that they aren’t as fast and easy (heh) as the pu_syhats. My kids and I are going to try to meet up in DC for the science march.

  81. 81.

    amk

    At least, one arm of the government is working like it is supposed to. Go courts. The defiance by ‘border control’ agents must be pissing off many judges right now.

  83. 83.

    JordanRules

    @? Martin: From some people’s perspective, including mine, it’s much easier to interpret these law enforcement folks not acting in accordance with the law. It mimics many everyday interactions with these types of authority figures. There were a lot of stories of them just being assholes which is very familiar to a lot of folks.

  86. 86.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @? Martin:

    Yup. I’ve also seen multiple accounts of meetings he’s held — including formal editorial board meetings at either NYT or WaPo, can’t remember (maybe both) — in which he would interrupt himself again and again in order to watch himself on a TV monitor. Demonstrates both his NPD and ADD tendencies in one swell foop.

  87. 87.

    Chet Murthy

    @Mnemosyne: Well, as my friend Deb Hild (PhD Textiles) pointed out several decades ago, it’s all physics, and in fact rather complicated physics. So fighter-plane nosecone fabrication is also in textiles, since it’s carbon fiber (or fiberglass, or fiber-something), and the physics involved descends from the physics of analyzing the properties of woven materials.

  88. 88.

    JMG

    @JordanRules: Being an asshole in defiance of a court order takes it up a notch or nine. Judges can demand you appear and do things like you, the pig cop, overnight in a holding cell. First rule I learned as a teenager when I worked nights for Teamster local 1107, President Frankie Sheehan, who confessed to being the trigger man on the Hoffa hit, was “the worst thing you ever call a judge is “Your Honor.”

  92. 92.

    Roger Moore

    @JordanRules:

    And my AZ Senators are all about breaking up the 9th circuit.

    They just don’t want to be governed by liberal California judges. Unfortunately, there’s a serious problem with breaking up the 9th Circuit: California. The 9th Circuit is huge mostly because California is huge. California by itself has a substantially larger population than any Circuit other than the 9th. If you split the 9th into a California Circuit and a Rump 9th Circuit, the new California Circuit would still be enormous, have a huge amount of vital litigation, and would be even more liberal than the current 9th Circuit.

    The only other alternative would be to split the 9th so that Northern and Southern California fell into different Circuits. That would be awful, because it would lead to different parts of California having different interpretations of the law, which would necessarily lead to lots of Supreme Court appeals.

  93. 93.

    Teddys Person

    @JordanRules: I saw pictures and video of the Obamas on their vacation. BHO was rocking a backwards baseball hat and flip flops looking chill. I burst into tears knowing that he displays more grace and dignity without even trying than Lord Dampnuts can dream of displaying at his staged circus events.

    ETA And to torture myself a little more, I watched the “To Sir with Love” tribute from SNL.

  96. 96.

    CarolPW

    @Mnemosyne:

    I’m an analytical environmental chemist and I used to knit in my undergraduate classes. A bunch of women scientists at the nearby agricultural research station needlepoint during seminars/lectures.

  97. 97.

    Roger Moore

    @? Martin:

    So don’t put him on the cover. Put some proxy image for him instead. Don’t include a photo in the story, etc.

    Alternatively, use the most unflattering image of him possible. He apparently blows up at pictures that show off his multiple chins. Making him look stupid and ridiculous also helps to undermine his authority.

  101. 101.

    Argiope

    @CarolPW: I’m just going to confess here & now that I-cords are boring, and also the march is in late April in DC. Much as I love to knit, I’m thinking lab coats, not hats. Maybe in cotton, though.

  104. 104.

    Mnemosyne

    So I’m just going to put this civil disobedience idea out into the ether (and in this thread so it’s a little more on the down-low than the one above):

    If the Trump administration did decide to go all Andrew Jackson, and if I were an activist, I would plan to block TSA at every airport in the DC metro area the next time Congress recesses to prevent any Congresscritters from leaving town. Yes, it’s illegal and many people would be arrested. That’s what makes it civil disobedience and not just a protest.

  107. 107.

    Millard Filmore

    @Adam L Silverman:

    the Rule of Law will be upheld, and when its coming from a conservative judge, that is cause for optimism

    Eh? Is there an assumption now that conservatives will ignore the rule of law? When I was young, I considered myself a conservative. When I was young, my impression was that conservatives liked the law and liberals were hippies that flouted the law to do their own thing, all over everybody.

    And now the world is turned upside down?

    When I was young, was my head really that far up my ass?

  109. 109.

    Gin & Tonic

    So the Twitter is telling me that Tillerson is picking Elliott Abrams as Deputy SoS.

    Fun times ahead, kids.

  110. 110.

    Roger Moore

    @Argiope:

    Much as I love to knit, I’m thinking lab coats, not hats. Maybe in cotton, though.

    Cotton is quite common as a lab coat material, especially where there’s some fire hazard, since synthetics and blends are more flammable. Where there’s a really serious fire hazard, though, the material of choice is Nomex.

  111. 111.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Lurking Canadian: I am fully aware of the CBP response last weekend and through the week. It is not encouraging. And your comment reads as if instead taking some small comfort here, we should instead be wailing and gnashing our teeth.

    But this is a win for the rule of law. A small win, but an important one. And if the Administration decides it wants to ignore it, create a full fledged constitutional crisis, and try to act as if the Rule of Law does not apply any longer, better sooner rather than later. Better to get it clearly into the open now, than wait until more damage is done. Better to fight it now before the stolen Supreme Court seat is filled.

  112. 112.

    Mnemosyne

    @Millard Filmore:

    A little bit of Column A, but mostly Column B. Conservatives have always been just as happy to ignore laws they disagree with. See the actions post-Brown v Board of Education, or the various anti-gay antics recently.

  115. 115.

    scav

    @CarolPW: Propeller? knit an icord and thread it over a figure-8 wire frame. Attach. Won’t spin (although some sort of button+wire system might even allow that with more experimentation).

    eta, sorry, but at least it’s a lot less icord.

  116. 116.

    Adam L Silverman

    I’ve just released a first time poster from purgatory. Comment 73. Play nice with your food!

  124. 124.

    randy khan

    @Aleta:

    The judge may have a different view than that. After all, they didn’t physically take the visas away; they just declared them to be no good as of the date of the EO.

  125. 125.

    ? Martin

    @Roger Moore: I actually don’t think that works. I think what matters to him is that he was deserving of a photo, even a bad one. That’s what you are trying to deny him.

  129. 129.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Gin & Tonic:

    So the Twitter is telling me that Tillerson is picking Elliott Abrams as Deputy SoS.

    Elliott Abrams? The Elliott Abrams who was convicted and then pardoned in the Iran-Contra case? That Elliott Abrams?

  132. 132.

    CarolPW

    @scav:

    I was thinking a fuck-ton of starch, but wire would work. If I put it on my puzzy hat I would have to make sure it cleared the ears.

  135. 135.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Demsrwackos: Yes, and I’ve taught it. And I’ve sworn an oath to it. Also, who said I was a Democrat?

    Now to substantially answer your question: 1) Federal Courts do have the power to do what Judge Robarts did. And by the way, Judge Robarts was appointed by President George W. Bush. You may have heard of him – he’s a Republican. 2) Many people were very concerned, across the political spectrum, with President Obama’s Executive Orders. Both because they could be undone by any of his successors or by acts of Congress or stayed through the Federal Courts. And many of them were stayed in the Federal Courts. The difference here is that President Obama actually staffed his Executive Orders for full and proper review. The DOJ’s Office of Legal Council reviewed them. They often sent them for review in Congress. And they were reviewed by the appropriate agencies and departments of the Federal government before they were issued. This isn’t full proof, obviously, as several were stayed by the Federal Courts, but often those seeking those stays had to shop for Federal Judges in very out of the way places – like Bronwsville, TX.

    There is an additional difference here. President Obama issued his EOs either in response to Federal Laws that were passed that then require the Executive Branch to develop and issue regulations to implement. For instance, the Fiduciary Rule that the President indicated today he was going to roll back is the result of a Federal Law passed a little over 6 years ago. That Federal Law required the Obama Administration to develop the regulation and the process for doing so includes multiple rounds of public comment. The result is that it took 6 years from beginning to end to produce a regulation that says your broker can’t enrich himself at your expense. I think that’s a good idea, but your mileage may vary. The or in this either or is that he issued them because the GOP majority in the House and minority through 2014 and then majority in the Senate refused and rebuffed any and all attempts to work with him and their Democratic counterparts. As a result, and because existing Federal Law required that the Executive Branch execute, so to speak, President Obama used EOs. A quick example before I stop: undocumented immigration and deportation. Congress only appropriates enough money to deport 400,000 undocumented immigrants per year. By undocumented I’m referring to those who enter without documentation or who overstay their documented entry/resident period. The former is a misdemeanor with no specified penalty. The latter isn’t even a crime. So the Obama Administration in conjunction with DHS and DOJ developed a policy and rules for who to prioritize: violent criminals, human traffickers, members of gangs and other organized crime groups, things like that. And they maxed out the deportations almost every year. They were then sued in Federal Court in the middle of nowhere Texas after those filing the suit went judge shopping to stop doing this. Because it was Executive overreach. The judge they found agreed it was and issued a stop to one of these EOs. And the Obama Administration observed and accepted the judge’s ruling. Even as they disagreed with it.

    Have a nice night!

  145. 145.

    Aleta

    The State Department said earlier Friday that it had already revoked some 60,000 visas, so even if the stay survives appellate review, it’s not clear whether many travelers from those countries will be immediately free to enter the country.

    The State Department said today “roughly 60,000 individuals’ visas were provisionally revoked” as a result of Trump’s Jan. 27 executive order barring refugees from seven countries.

    That number is considerably lower than the number given by a Justice Department attorney, who said today in federal court in Virginia that 100,000 visas were revoked as a result of the order, as Carmel Delshad of NPR station WAMU reported.

    Both numbers are considerably higher than the figure provided by the Department of Homeland Security earlier this week. Kevin McAleenan, acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, told reporters on Tuesday that 721 people with visas had not been allowed to board airplanes to the U.S. in the first 72 hours after the order went into effect. An additional 1,135 people with visas were granted waivers to enter the country, he said.

    The 100,000 figure came out during a hearing for two lawful permanent residents from Yemen who filed a lawsuit after arriving at Dulles International Airport last Saturday. The two men allege they were detained and coerced into giving up their immigrant visas before being put on a return flight to Ethiopia, Delshad reported.

    “U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said that it was clear to her the temporary travel ban on seven majority-Muslim countries went into effect too quickly, and not a lot of thought went into it,” and she issued a seven-day extension of a temporary order barring the deportation of green card holders from Dulles Airport, Delshad reported.

    from NPR

  146. 146.

    Ruckus

    @efgoldman:
    This country certainly has some chickenshit elements. But not everyone is afraid of everyone/everything. I’d imagine the Republican president would be, as he’s fucked over enough of them.

  147. 147.

    randy khan

    @Aleta:

    This is on CNN’s Twitter feed right now:

    Customs and Border Protection told US airlines that it’s reinstating visas following a federal judge’s halt to Trump’s travel ban

    I sure hope it’s right.

  149. 149.

    Aleta

    @Lurking Canadian: One report of CPB obstruction was in the Daily Beast around 5 days ago:

    For the lawyers at Dulles Airport, Brinkema’s ruling generated a ton of excitement. She ruled that the travelers detained by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had a right to see lawyers.
    After the ruling came out, lawyers bustled around, filling out forms declaring that detainees were their clients (someone had thought to bring a printer). Any minute, they expected, they would be able to see the detainees and try to help them get into the U.S.
    At this point, it wasn’t clear how many people were detained and which of them were legal permanent residents of the U.S. Lawyers didn’t even know all the names of the people they were trying to help. It wasn’t clear if some detainees had been put back on planes returning to their countries of origin, or if detainees had been shuttled off to immigrant detention centers in Northern Virginia. The travelers were all being held in what’s called “secondary inspection,” referred to as “secondary.” It’s part of the CBP screening process where lawyers are rarely, if ever, allowed to be present.
    But lawyers who spoke to The Daily Beast said it’s also unheard of for government agencies like CBP to prevent people who have the legal right to live in the U.S. from seeing their lawyers. And that’s what was happening.
    After Brinkema’s order came down, and lawyers at Dulles prepared to meet their new clients, the CBP balked, barring these lawyers from seeing their would-be clients.
    Time ticked. Protesters chanted. CBP officials were invisible; for hours, lawyers didn’t know if CBP officials at Dulles had even acknowledged Brinkema’s ruling existed.
    Lawyers wrung their hands. And then, slowly, detainees started trickling out, one or two at a time.
    … (details about detainee treatment)
    As the night wore on, it became increasingly clear that CBP was defying Brinkema’s ruling. Lawyers concluded that that meant someone was in contempt of court. The judge could theoretically send in federal law enforcement officers to force CBP to let the lawyers meet with the detainees. But sending in the U.S. Marshals—who are part of the Department of Justice—to take on Customs and Border Patrol—which is part of the Department of Homeland Security—would have been a bureaucratic clash of the titans. And, like everything else that night, it would have been unprecedented. It didn’t happen.
    Though detainees were slowly being released, lawyers were disturbed that they couldn’t meet with them. What if CBP tried to coerce detainees into signing paperwork that could jeopardize their legal status? Release wasn’t enough. A federal agency was defying a federal judge, and no one was quite sure what to do.
    Then at around 11:45 p.m., New Jersey Senator Cory Booker showed up.
    He had come to get the travelers out of detention, “or at least access to an attorney,” he told The Daily Beast.
    Then he disappeared down a hallway blocked off by police, back to where the CBP officials had quarantined themselves.
    Booker stayed back there for about half an hour, and then he pushed through the crowd of roaring protesters and—flanked by glowering policemen—addressed the crowd. After a few opening words, he held up a copy of Brinkema’s order.
    “I am now of the belief that though this was issued by the judicial branch, that it was violated tonight,” he said. “And so one of the things I will be doing is fighting to make sure that the executive branch abides by the law as it was issued in this state and around the nation. This will be an ongoing battle.”
    The crowd cheered.
    “We see tonight what I believe is a clear violation of the Constitution,” he continued. “And so clearly tonight we have to commit ourselves to the longer fight. Clearly tonight, we have to commit ourselves to the cause of our country. Clearly tonight, we have to be determined to show this world what America is all about.”
    Booker told The Daily Beast that CBP didn’t give him an explanation for why they wouldn’t let lawyers access detainees.
    “They told me nothing, and it was unacceptable,” he said. “I believe it’s a Constitutional crisis, where the executive branch is not abiding by the law.”
    A source familiar with Booker’s exchange with CBP officials told The Daily Beast that officials with the agency refused to see him face to face. Instead, Booker wrote questions on a piece of paper which he handed to police officers, and those officers gave the paper—along with a copy of Brinkema’s ruling—to CBP officials. Those CBP officials then wrote out their answers to the senator’s questions, according to the source. The source described it as a half-written, half-spoken game of telephone.
    It was a surreal moment: An executive agency was defying the ruling of a federal judge, and a U.S. senator was trying—unsuccessfully—to make that agency comply.

  151. 151.

    Ruckus

    @rikyrah:
    @Lizzy L:
    Well that settles that. My provider, Charter just raised my rate 50%. I filed a complaint but I’d bet that will get me just about no fucking where. Asshole corporations are going to fuck that golden goose and render most of us far poorer than we are now. I wonder how that will play in their boardrooms when enough of their customers tell them to go fuck themselves. Too bad the greedy fuckers can’t see with their heads up their asses.

  152. 152.

    Aleta

    @randy khan: That’s great news. I wonder, of those back in the affected countries, especially those far from the airport or out of money, how many hoops they will have to go through. And who will pay for the flights, how much wait to get booked.

  155. 155.

    Aleta

    @randy khan: Booker: ““I believe it’s a Constitutional crisis, where the executive branch is not abiding by the law.” Separate situation, but do you think the 9th C will see it this way in any aspect?

  158. 158.

    Ruckus

    Why oh why do you all feed the trolls?
    Even a nice Fuck Off Asshole feeds them. They know they’ve pissed you off.
    Just ignore them, they will go away. Eventually. Hopefully.

  159. 159.

    randy khan

    @rikyrah:

    So, that’s not really right. I work in the telecom biz, and follow this stuff, and actually read the order that came out today because I needed to explain it to somebody. The order rescinds a decision granting a few small companies the right to provide subsidized Internet service to low income households. It’s probably a dumb decision (and eventually the companies probably will be granted the right provide the subsidized service), but most of the subsidized service is provided by much larger companies that are unaffected by the order.

    The decision was part of a Friday afternoon dump of a dozen different decisions, all but one of them reversing things done by the FCC in the last couple of months before inauguration. (The exception was something that the FCC did in 2014, although in practice that particular item was a dead letter already for other reasons.) All of the rest of the decisions were intended to actually reverse what the FCC had done before – including the issuance of two reports, which was pretty stupid. This one was just intended to put the applications filed by the companies back into the queue. (And, I should add, the underlying decision that allowed the applications to be filed was supported by the two Republican commissioners, so I don’t think they intend to undo it.)

    And, yes, the new Chairman of the FCC is this petty. He apparently wasn’t even willing to give the remaining Democratic commissioner a couple of extra days to review the 12 decisions that came out in a spasm this afternoon.

  160. 160.

    randy khan

    @Aleta:

    It always depends on the judge or judges you get, but the odds in the 9th Circuit do not favor the Trump Administration. Of course, they can try the Supreme Court after that; I don’t know what they would do.

  161. 161.

    ChrisB

    @Adam L Silverman: Well, yes, if that’s the case they choose to appeal. I’m just wondering, since they apparently cancelled all the visas from those countries (100,000 or so), which may effectively prevent people from entering the country anytime soon without further order of the court, whether there’s a pending case in another circuit as to which they may prefer to take their appeal.

  162. 162.

    Adam L Silverman

    @ChrisB: Judge Brinkema has ordered that she be provided a list of everyone turned away, who had a visa revoked, and/or detained. My guess is she’s going to order them reinstated.

  170. 170.

    LAC

    @efgoldman: true. That is what happens when you are sifting through comments on a post op narcotic high.
    Hope I spelled gnashing correctly. :)

  171. 171.

    opiejeanne

    @Demsrwackos: People with green cards or Visas are not illegal. These are people who live here, work here, go to school here, or are visiting family that lives here.
    Illegals don’t come in through immigration at airports.

Comments are closed.