Two Judges, Two Decisions

                Numerous lawsuits were filed against President Donald Trump’s executive order to stop immigration from seven Middle East countries. Two different judges issued decisions about the order with two different outcomes.

                Hans von Spakovsky is an authority on various issues including immigration. He is a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation. He compares the two outcomes in his article titled “Trump’s Executive Order on Immigration Is Both Legal and Constitutional.” He writes the following.

If you want to see the difference between a federal judge who follows the rule of law and a federal judge who ignores laws he doesn’t like in order to reach a preferred public policy outcome, just compare the two district court decisions issued in Washington state and Massachusetts over President Donald Trump’s immigration executive order.

Contrary to the “travel ban’ label, the executive order temporarily suspended the granting of visas from seven failed and failing countries that are supplying many of the terrorists plaguing the world.

                Von Spakovsky gives the following explanation: “Trump acted fully within the statutory authority granted to him by Congress.” He also states that the restraining order by Judge James Robart of the Western District of Washington “is unjustified and has no basis in the law of the Constitution.” The judge wrote “his seven-page order” but failed to include any “discussion whatsoever of what law or constitutional provision the president has supposedly violated.” The 9^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has accepted the Department of Justice’s emergency repeal.

                In comparison, Massachusetts District Court Judge Nathaniel Gorton, as reported by von Spakovsky, “bases his decision denying the temporary restraining order on an examination of the extensive power given to the president under that [federal] statute [8 U.S.C. 1182(f)], which gives the president the authority to suspend the entry of any aliens or class of aliens into the U.S. if he believes it `would be detrimental to the interests of the United States.’ And he can do so `for such period as he shall deem necessary.’ Judge Gorton’s discussion covers 21 pages.

                In an attempt to keep Americans safe, President Trump signed an executive order suspending for 90 days all immigration visas for anyone trying to enter the United States from seven nations because of their histories with terrorism. I agree with the author’s findings that the President had the authority to issue the executive order. You can find the rest of von Spakovsky’s article here.