The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, decried the June 26 U.S. Supreme Court’s decision announced this morning to allow the Muslim Ban 3.0 to remain in effect.
In a 5-4 decision, the court reversed an injunction that had — until December 2017 — prevented the Trump administration from using the Muslim Ban 3.0 as a basis for denying visas to foreign nationals from eight affected countries.
In her dissent, Justice Sotomayor wrote: “A reasonable observer would conclude that the Proclamation was driven primarily by anti-Muslim animus, rather than by the Government’s asserted national-security justifications. Even before being sworn into office, then-candidate Trump stated that ‘Islam hates us.'”
“Today’s ruling sits alongside other similarly shameful Supreme Court decisions allowing Japanese American internment and segregation.” – Lena Masri, CAIR National Litigation Director.
“The Muslim community will join other advocates of civil rights to show the ban for what it is — an illegal expression of anti-Muslim animosity.” – Gadeir Abbas, AIR Senior Litigation Attorney.
“This is a setback; not the end of the road. The Supreme Court made it clear that the responsibility will continue to be on the American Muslim community and its allies to push for an end to the Muslim Ban. The Supreme Court’s decision is an invitation to inject discrimination back into our immigration system. More than half a century ago, Congress abandoned a racist immigration system that preferred some races over others. This decision is an abandonment of that milestone. “The Muslim Ban’s bigotry should have been as clear to the Supreme Court as it is to the Muslims demonized by it. Apparently, everyone but the Supreme Court can see the decision for what it is: an expression of animosity.”
– Nihad Awad, CAIR National Executive Director
In its decision, the Supreme Court granted extreme deference to the Trump administration, which gives the administration the green light to inject discrimination back into the immigration system.
Since the Trump administration’s first attempt to ban Muslim immigration to the United States, CAIR has filed legal challenges to each of the ban’s permutations. In the Supreme Court, CAIR had filed an amicus brief on behalf of six individuals who successfully obtained an injunction against Muslim Ban 3.0 from a federal court in Maryland.
The brief, filed in the wake of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit’s decision in February declaring Trump’s Muslim ban unconstitutional – states in part: “The injuries suffered by the [plaintiffs] are beyond the pale. If they are beyond the power of the courts to remedy, we fear for what is yet to come.”
In December of last year, CAIR applauded the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ unanimous decision against the Trump administration’s “Muslim Ban 3.0.” CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
