Arizona joins 12 other states in backing Trump’s travel ban in appeals court
Mar 27, 2017, 3:43 PM
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
PHOENIX — Arizona has joined 12 other states in expressing its support for President Donald Trump’s second travel ban after attorneys requested the ban remain in effect while a court considers it.
In a brief filed in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday, the states said the president’s executive order is not a “pretext for religious discrimination.” They said the president acted lawfully in the interest of national security.
Attorneys for the president want the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to put on hold a lower court judge’s ruling that blocked his revised travel ban targeting six predominantly Muslim countries while the court considers the merits of its appeal.
The administration said the people named in the case haven’t shown they will suffer “substantial harm” if the order takes effect. The administration said the nationwide injunction blocking the ban is “fatally overbroad.”
The other states showing support are Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and West Virginia. Gov. Phil Bryant of Mississippi also joined.
The states are urging a Richmond-based appeals court to overturn the lower court ruling. A judge in Hawaii has issued a separate ruling blocking the executive order.
Trump’s second attempt at the travel ban made a few exceptions for those with residency status and removed Iraq from the list of banned countries, but differed little else from one blocked by the court earlier this year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.