Well See You in Court: Why Trumps Executive Order on Refugees Violates the Establishment Clause
I don't even recognize my country any more. This is NOT the America I know. This NOT the way our government works. Donald Trump is NOT a dictator who can govern by decree. However, I am coming more and more to realize that our Republican Congress does NOT give a damn about our Republic. And where are our Dems? Why aren't they DEMANDING hearing on this illegal, immoral ban? Why aren't they out to every state and district holding rallies and speaking out against this mock-president who doesn't have a clue about how our government works? I fear we are heading for pitchforks and torches, barricades and blood in the streets.
https://www.aclu.org/blog/speak-freely/well-see-you-court-why-trumps-executive-order-refugees-violates-establishment
According to the Supreme Court, “the clearest command of the Establishment Clause is that one religious denomination cannot be officially preferred over another.” But that command is apparently not clear enough for President Donald Trump. On Friday he signed an executive order on refugees that imposes a selective ban on immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries as well as establishes preferential treatment for refugees seeking asylum who are identified with “minority religions” in their country of origin. In case there was any doubt about the latter provision’s intent, Trump told Christian Broadcast News that it was intended to give priority to “Christians” seeking asylum over “Muslims.”
In both respects, the executive order violates the “clearest command of the Establishment Clause.” First, as I developed in an earlier post, the Constitution bars the government from targeting Islam. One of the lowest of many low moments in Donald Trump’s presidential campaign was his December 2015 call for a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslim immigration. The proposal treated as presumptively suspect a religion practiced by about 1.6 billion people worldwide, nearly a quarter of the globe’s population. Trump soon retreated to talk of “extreme vetting,” but he never gave up his focus on the religion of Islam. Friday’s executive orders are of a piece with his many anti-Muslim campaign promises.
As I wrote earlier, one of the critical questions with respect to the validity of executive action challenged under the Establishment Clause is its intent and effect. If intended to disfavor a particular religion, it violates the Establishment Clause. Here, there is copious “smoking gun” evidence that the president intended to disfavor Muslims on the basis of their religion.
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EO is by President?
