Amicus Brief – Filed By 16 AGs – Opposes Trump Administration’s Stay Application In Trump v. Hawaii

AGs Detail How Ban Harms States’ Residents, Businesses, & Institutions

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman led a coalition of 16 Attorneys General in filing a new amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, opposing President Trump’s third travel ban and his administration’s application for a stay of a preliminary injunction halting enforcement of that ban.

The amicus brief, filed in Trump v. Hawaii, urges the Supreme Court to reject the Department of Justice’s emergency stay application, which seeks a complete stay of the Hawaii district court’s preliminary injunction against the third travel ban. The Ninth Circuit recently declined to stay the portion of the injunction that prevented the Trump Administration from implementing the third ban against individuals from six predominantly Muslim countries who have a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.

“As we’ve said from the start and the courts have affirmed: President Trump’s ban is unconstitutional, unlawful, and un-American. We’ll continue to fight back to protect New York’s families, institutions, and businesses,” said Attorney General Schneiderman.

Click here to read the brief, which was filed by the Attorneys General of New York, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Columbia.

“All of amici States benefit from immigration, tourism, and international travel by students, academics, skilled professionals, and businesspeople. The disputed provisions of the Proclamation – like the previous bans – significantly disrupt the ability of our States’ public universities to recruit and retrain students and faculty, impairing academic staffing and research, and causing the loss of tuition and tax revenues, among other costs. The Proclamation also disrupts the provision of medical care at our hospitals and harms our science, technology, finance, and tourism industries by inhibiting the free exchange of information, ideas, and talent between the designated countries and our States, causing long-term economic and reputational damage. In addition, the ban has made it more difficult for us to effectuate our own constitutional and statutory polices of religious tolerance and nondiscrimination,” the amicus brief states.

The brief, like previous ones filed by the same coalition, details the numerous serious and irreparable harms the States have faced as a result of the Trump Administration’s travel bans, which could very well now be permanent due to the indefinite nature of this third ban (and particularly if a sweeping stay is granted).

Attorney General Schneiderman has also filed suit against the third travel ban.