Friday, June 02, 2017

Justice Department Seeks Supreme Court Review and Stay In Travel Ban Cases [UPDATED]

As reported by the Washington Post, the Justice Department yesterday in two filing with the U.S. Supreme Court sought to overturn lower court decisions invalidating President Trump's second travel ban executive order.  The U.S. filed a petition for certiorari (full text) in Trump v. International Refugee Assistance Project, asking the Supreme Court to grant review of the 4th Circuit's en banc decision (see prior posting) upholding an injunction against enforcement of Section 2(c) of the Executive Order which imposes a 90-day suspension on entry into the country of nationals of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. It also filed a motion (full text) asking the Supreme Court to stay the lower court's injunction while the appeal to the Supreme Court is pending, and asking for expedited consideration of the cert. petition.  Responding to the request for expedited consideration, the Supreme Court on June 2 issued an order calling for respondents to file a response by June 12.

The government also filed an Application for Stay Pending Appeal (full text) in Trump v. State of Hawaii.  The Application asks the Court to stay the preliminary injunction (see prior posting) issued by a Hawaii federal district court while the appeal of that decision is being considered by the 9th Circuit, and to stay it further while any government appeal to the Supreme Court thereafter is pending.The Hawaii decision enjoined enforcement of both Section 2 of the Executive Order (90 day ban on entry into U.S. of nationals of six Muslim-majority nations) and Section 6 (120 day suspension of entry of refugees).