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FOR THE SECOND time in a week, government lawyers will try to persuade a federal appeals court to reinstate President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban – and once again, they can expect plenty of questions today about whether the ban was designed to discriminate against Muslims.
A three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals has scheduled arguments in Seattle over Hawaii’s lawsuit challenging the travel ban, which would suspend the nation’s refugee program and temporarily bar new visas for citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
Last week, judges on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments over whether to affirm a Maryland judge’s decision putting the ban on ice.
They peppered Acting Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall with questions about whether they could consider Trump’s campaign statements calling for a ban on Muslims entering the US, with one judge asking if there was anything other than “willful blindness” that would prevent them from doing so.
Today’s arguments mark the second time Trump’s efforts to restrict immigration from certain Muslim-majority nations have reached the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit.
After Trump issued his initial travel ban on a Friday in late January, bringing chaos and protests to airports around the country, a Seattle judge blocked its enforcement nationwide – a decision that was unanimously upheld by a three-judge 9th Circuit panel.
The president then rewrote his executive order, rather than appeal to the US Supreme Court, and in March, US District Judge Derrick Watson in Honolulu blocked the new version from taking effect, citing what he called “significant and unrebutted evidence of religious animus” in Trump’s campaign statements.
“Again, in this court, the President claims a nearly limitless power to make immigration policy that is all but immune from judicial review,” Hawaii Attorney General Douglas Chin wrote to the 9th Circuit.
“Again, he must be checked.”
The administration’s lawyers are seeking to persuade the judges that the lower court’s decision is “fundamentally wrong,” and that the president’s order falls squarely within his duty to secure the nation’s borders.
The order as written is silent on religion, and neither Hawaii nor its co-plaintiff, the imam of the Muslim Association of Hawaii, has standing to sue, they say – arguments that were rejected in the lower court.
The travel ban cases are expected to reach the Supreme Court, but that would likely be cemented if the 4th and 9th Circuits reach differing conclusions about its legality.
Because of how the courts chose to proceed, a full slate of 13 judges heard the 4th Circuit arguments last week, while just three, all appointees of President Bill Clinton, will sit in Seattle.
For that reason – with the possibility for myriad concurring or dissenting opinions – it could take the 4th Circuit longer to rule, noted Carl Tobias, a law professor at University of Richmond law school in Virginia.
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They should have to list all prices on print ads or social media ads , its getting ridiculous these days not knowing the price of tickets until a day or 2 before there put on sale
@colm connolly: Amen, then the shock went it’s collosal price compared to the advertised one.
@colm connolly: a day or 2 for the prices if your lucky…there never on ticketmaster until 9am Friday morning of ticket sale and you have to grin and bear it….Aiken promotions also do the same.
Mcd and ticketmaster have been an absolute joke lately, these cheaper imaginary tickets never existed, how many people got tickets to celine dion at the lower price point??
@Dee Ni Annrachain: the lower price point t was still over €100
The booking fee is what gets me. Booked 2 tickets during the week for an event next year. Service charge of €7.15 per ticket and a facility charge of €1 per ticket. An extra €16.30 on to the booking. If you’re buying 4/6 tickets for a family that additional charge is ridiculous. Booked an event for this year in the same venue (Three arena) and the facility charge wasnt included so is this now a new charge on top of the existing charges?
@Conor Church: I don’t get the whole “fee” thing. I am selling an event for €50 in a venue, but you need to pay me €7 to buy the ticket and €1 to use the venue? It should be illegal to give a price that is simply not true. If I can’t attend for less than €58, the advertised price should be €58.
Can they define ‘reasonable’ number of tickets?
Prices should listed prior to sale times, especially standing as that’s usually the majority of tickets.
I don’t know how Ticketmaster are allowed to exist. They clearly have a monopoly on the big venues. People complain about touts adding to the price of the ticket but ticketmaster are huge touts because they force you to pay the higher price for every single ticket! And I’m not even talking about their touting site. I mean come on, if I go into a shop, and I am buying a loaf of bread for €1.50, I’m not told when I get to the till “There’s an extra €0.50 high-ranking charge on that”
Screw these greedy ar$eholes. They’ll never change. You are the problem, not them. They are just exploiting your behaviour. Behaviour they know they can rely on. I haven’t paid for a ticketmaster or MCD event in well over 10 years and I doubt I ever will again. Go out more to smaller venues. Support local or Indie performers and still have some money left over
@Cocker: well you’ve missed out on some great concerts.
have your say