Amy Howe

Sep 12 2017

Hawaii responds in latest travel-ban dispute

The state of Hawaii fired back this morning, urging the Supreme Court to stay out of the most recent skirmish in the battle over President Donald Trump’s March 6 executive order, often known as the “travel ban.” Yesterday the Trump administration went to the justices to ask them to block a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit that would have carved out an exemption from the ban for the approximately 24,000 refugees who are covered by an agreement between a refugee resettlement agency and the U.S. government. Justice Anthony Kennedy, who handles emergency appeals from the 9th Circuit, quickly acquiesced to the federal government’s request, at least temporarily, and directed the challengers to respond.

In today’s 32-page filing, Hawaii describes the current dispute as a “highly fact-intensive scenario” in which the Supreme Court would not normally get involved. In its June 26 order allowing part of the ban to go into effect, the state explains, the Supreme Court “laid out a legal standard” that the lower courts have “diligently and correctly applied,” removing any need for the justices to intervene.

The state also pushes back against the Trump administration’s argument, made in yesterday’s submission to the court, that the 9th Circuit’s ruling “would as a practical matter render” the Supreme Court’s late June order on refugees “a dead letter.” The state assures the justices that the Trump administration “retains the authority to bar tens of thousands of refugees from entering the country, as indeed it has done for months.” And in any event, it adds, with oral argument in the case scheduled for October 10, the question will be a moot point soon.

Kennedy acted swiftly yesterday, imposing the temporary stay within a matter of hours; either Kennedy or the full court will likely move quickly again today.

This post was also republished at SCOTUSblog.com.

Amy L Howe
Until September 2016, Amy served as the editor and reporter for SCOTUSblog, a blog devoted to coverage of the Supreme Court of the United States; she continues to serve as an independent contractor and reporter for SCOTUSblog. Before turning to full-time blogging, she served as counsel in over two dozen merits cases at the Supreme Court and argued two cases there. From 2004 until 2011, she co-taught Supreme Court litigation at Stanford Law School; from 2005 until 2013, she co-taught a similar class at Harvard Law School. She has also served as an adjunct professor at American University’s Washington College of Law and Vanderbilt Law School. Amy is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and holds a master’s degree in Arab Studies and a law degree from Georgetown University.
Tweets by @AHoweBlogger
Recent ScotusBlog Posts from Amy
  • Court rules for deaf student in education-law case
  • Parties disagree over court’s power to reach decision in election law case
  • Justices throw out lower-court ruling allowing state court clerk to be sued in parental notification abortion case
More from Amy Howe

Recent Posts

  • Court rules for deaf student in education-law case
  • Parties disagree over court’s power to reach decision in election law case
  • Justices throw out lower-court ruling allowing state court clerk to be sued in parental notification abortion case
  • Justices decline to halt execution of Texas man with intellectual disability claim
  • Justices take up case on federal admiralty law, seek government’s views on two pending petitions
Site built and optimized by Sound Strategies