Wednesday, February 15, 2017

The Ninth Circuit’s Stay On Trump’s Immigration Order Is Legal Garbage

It’s clear the judges went through the exercise of writing an opinion so they could get to the outcome they wanted. The problem is, the outcome they wanted is, legally speaking, wrong.
The Trump administration confirmed Sunday they are considering issuing new executive orders about immigration now that courts have halted an initial order restricting travel from seven countries. “The president’s powers here are beyond question,” said Trump aide Stephen Miller, responding to court orders to the contrary. The administration is also considering accelerating the action to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Most significantly, on February 9, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower-court temporary restraining order (“TRO”) which held that the U.S. government could not enforce President Trump’s executive order on immigration.
The ruling is no surprise. Two of the judges were appointed by presidents Carter and Obama. And it is the Ninth Circuit, which is not exactly a hotbed of conservative thought. After hearing the oral arguments, my only question was whether it would be a 2-1 ruling against President Trump, or a 3-0 ruling. Turns out, we’re not even 100 percent sure on that front (more on that later).
More surprising was just how sloppy the opinion was. It was weak on facts. Weak on law. Weak on analysis. Heavy on conjecture and supposition and misspeak. It’s clear the judges were simply going through the exercise of writing an opinion so they could get to the outcome they wanted. The problem is, the outcome they wanted is, legally speaking, wrong.
Read the rest of this op-ed from The Federalist HERE.

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