Hirono: Fourth Circuit Ruling Strikes Blow Against Unconstitutional Muslim Ban

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Senator Mazie K. Hirono, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released the following statement on the Fourth Circuit Court’s ruling against President Trump’s Muslim Ban:

“The ruling today by the Fourth Circuit follows earlier decisions like that of Judge Watson in Hawaii in striking a blow against President Trump’s unconstitutional Muslim Ban. The court’s 10-3 opinion is a stirring reminder that we are a county of laws and values. The court was right to focus on evidence that the Trump Administration’s defense of the ban was ‘provided in bad faith as a pretext’ for intolerance. Evidence like the President’s own promises on the campaign trail. As Chief Judge Gregory wrote, the order ‘speaks with vague words of national security, but in context drips with religious intolerance, animus, and discrimination.’

“The purpose of the Muslim ban has been made clear as day by the people who planned it, wrote it and issued it-- to target a minority group for discrimination based on their religion. No amount of furious spinning now can deny President Trump’s own words. Court after court have now rightly applied our Constitution to stop this ban from doing harm to our fundamental American values.”

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