Sparks fly over Trump tweets at travel ban court arguments
Source: Politico
The president's tweet about bullets dipped in pigs' blood doesn't show an anti-Muslim bias, Justice Department lawyers argue.
By JOSH GERSTEIN 12/08/2017 02:16 PM EST
RICHMOND, Va. — Among all the legal and constitutional arguments a federal appeals court considered Friday about President Donald Trump's latest travel ban, the judges turned again and again to the same subject: the president's provocative tweets about Muslims. If the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals rules against the policy Trump issued in September, it seems likely that Trump's penchant for tweeting will play a significant part in the defeat.
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After noting several tweets Trump sent last week circulating anti-Muslim videos made by a British nationalist group, Judge James Wynn suggested that the court would be blinkering itself to focus on the administration's reports and other formalities, while the president presents an alternate explanation for what's behind the policy.
"Do we just ignore reality and look at the legality to determine how to handle this case?" Wynn asked. "If the reality is that is the purpose, but the legality allows it, does that make a difference?...If the allegation is that this is an effort to ban Muslims from this country and every statement that is made by the indidividual who is the president who is making it goes to say that, but it is done in a way to say we did a world wide review, now it's legal?"
Justice Department attorney Hashim Mooppan said the president's Twitter statements shouldn't matter.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/08/trump-travel-ban-4th-circuit-hearing-287242?lo=ap_b1
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