Attorney General Becerra Files Opposition to Trump’s Muslim Ban with the U.S. Supreme Court

SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra today filed an amicus brief with the United States Supreme Court opposing the Trump Administration’s effort to impose a travel ban on people from predominantly Muslim countries, which has been rejected by several lower courts since it was first announced in January. 

In the brief, Attorney General Becerra and 15 of his fellow attorneys general argue the Court should rule against the Administration because of the overwhelming and unrebutted evidence of anti-Muslim animus; the lack of a genuine national security rationale; and the significant harms the ban would cause the states, their residents and their institutions. 

“Months after thousands of people filled airports opposing Donald Trump’s anti-Muslim and un-American travel ban, the Supreme Court could soon put an end to this disgraceful period in our country’s history,” said Attorney General Becerra. “My fellow attorneys general and I believe our nation’s highest Court will confirm the ban is unconstitutional. We’ve fought this blatantly discriminatory ban all the way to the Supreme Court because it does not represent who we are as a country. California is a welcoming state and the world’s sixth largest economy because we embrace people of all backgrounds, religions and ethnicities who come here to work hard and build our state. We don’t plan to stop now.”

A copy of the filings is attached to the electronic version of this release at oag.ca.gov/news.

BACKGROUND

Last month, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, upheld an injunction on President Trump’s travel ban, saying the executive order, “speaks with vague words of national security, but in context drips with religious intolerance, animus and discrimination.” Attorney General Becerra was part of a coalition of states filing an amicus brief urging the Fourth Circuit to uphold the district court ruling that struck down the travel ban as unconstitutional. 

In April, Attorney General Becerra joined a coalition of 17 states filing an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit to support the preliminary injunction obtained by the state of Hawaii which bars enforcement of unconstitutional provisions of the Trump Administration's revised executive order on travel.