Late Wednesday evening, a federal judge in Hawaii put a temporary hold on the implementation of the White House’s revised travel ban. The development was celebrated by the left and championed by the liberal media. “There’s new fallout this evening after President Trump now faces his second defeat on his proposed travel ban. The revised ban blocked just hours before it took effect,” stated anchor David Muir during World News Tonight, Thursday evening.
“That order temporarily barring travelers from six Muslim-majority countries brought to a standstill by a judge in Hawaii,” touted White House correspondent Cecilia Vega, “Just hours before it was supposed to take effect.” She hyped up the judge’s decision as she read from his ruling:
And Judge Derrick Watson did not hold back from the bench, writing: ‘Any reasonable, objective observer would conclude as does the court that the stated secular purpose of the executive order is at the very least, secondary to a religious objective of temporarily suspending the entrance of Muslims.’ And he used the President's own words against him, like this statement from the campaign trail.
Vega then played a clip of Trump at a campaign rally where he declared that he was calling for a Muslim ban. That was followed up with a clip of former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani saying that Trump wanted him to craft a Muslim ban that could withstand legal muster.
But the constitutionality of Trump’s executive order is not in question, according to Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz. In the immediate aftermath of the judges hold, Dershowitz argued on CNN that if the Supreme Court wanted to make a decision on Trump’s intent it would be difficult for them:
If it does, it will have to decide that words in an order can be constitutional when issue by Barack Obama but the very same words unconstitutional when issued by Donald Trump. That makes it very, very personal. After all, the selection of these countries, seven of them, was made by Obama, well-motivated not on the basis of a Muslim ban, on the basis of a desire to protect the United States. Then President Trump selects six of those seven countries, the very same counties, but that becomes unconstitutional because of what he said during the campaign.
The question of the constitutionality of the executive order was missing from Vega’s report. There was no mention that the countries selected in the order were observed by the Obama White House for needing additional screening because proper checks are lacking. All of which are very important facts to understanding the entire situation.
Transcript below:
<<< Please support MRC's NewsBusters team with a tax-deductible contribution today. >>>
ABC
World News Tonight
March 16, 2017
6:39:20 PM EasternDAVID MUIR: Also, there’s new fallout this evening after President Trump now faces his second defeat on his proposed travel ban. The revised ban blocked just hours before it took effect. Here's ABC's senior White House correspondent, Cecilia Vega.
[Cuts to video]
CECILIA VEGA: President Trump today, ignoring questions about the fate of his revised travel ban.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President what are you going to do next with the immigration executive order?
VEGA: That order temporarily barring travelers from six Muslim-majority countries brought to a standstill by a judge in Hawaii. Just hours before it was supposed to take effect. During a stop in Nashville on Wednesday, the President rallying his supporters with the news.
DONALD TRUMP: Let me give you the bad, the sad news.
VEGA: And Judge Derrick Watson did not hold back from the bench, writing: “Any reasonable, objective observer would conclude as does the court that the stated secular purpose of the executive order is at the very least, secondary to a religious objective of temporarily suspending the entrance of Muslims.” And he used the President's own words against him, like this statement from the campaign trail.
TRUMP: Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.
VEGA: This from surrogate Rudy Giuliani:
RUDY GIULIANI: When he first announced, he said Muslim ban. He called me up, he said, “Put a commission together. Show me the right way to do it legally.”
VEGA: The judge also citing this statement from the ban's architect: Steven Miller Saying travel ban 2.0 is no different than the first one.
STEVE MILLER: Fundamentally, you will still have the same basic policy outcome for the country.
VEGA: And in Nashville, President Trump echoing that.
TRUMP: The order he blocked was a watered down version of the first order.
VEGA: And he’s now vowing to keep fighting in court.
TRUMP: We're going to take our case as far as it needs to go, including all the way up to the Supreme Court.
[Cuts back to live]
MUIR: And in a reflection of the reaction he gets at the rallies, Cecilia, the President now saying he may do more of these campaign-style events?
VEGA: David, he says he wants to do them about every two weeks, and perhaps he wants to do them even more because he’s already got another one on the books for Monday in Louisville. Davis, his campaign—his re-election campaign is organizing that one.
MUIR: All right. Monday in Louisville. Cecilia Vega live at the White House, thank you Cecilia.
