Thread by @axidentaliberal

There is a time to sit, a time to wait - and a time to act.

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On January 27, 2017 Donald Trump signed an Executive Order barring citizens from 7 predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. He claimed that this order was necessary to "ensure...the security and welfare of the United States." /1

Immediately, American citizens responded. There were protests across the country. Thousands of lawyers, including me, went to airports across the world to address the chaotic injustice caused by this misbegotten policy. /2

U.S. citizens were improperly detained, children seeking life-saving medical care were turned away, and government officials lied to people, causing their legal status to be jeopardized or incorrectly terminated.

And we acted. Because what was at stake was too important./3

Putting aside the abject ineptitude displayed by the Trump administration in failing to establish procedures that could have ameliorated these problems, had the Exec Order actually been promulgated to protect US national security interests, I might have at least understood it./4

But it wasn't.

No, this order was borne of something else entirely. /5

On December 7, 2015, Mr. Trump stated that he was “calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on."/6

washingtonpost.com/news/post-poli…

He repeatedly backed this objective while simultaneously making other anti-Muslim statements. Rudy Giuliani gave an interview saying Trump asked him to find a way to ban Muslims legally. Other Trump officials voiced anti-Muslim rhetoric for years./7

washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/w…

Moreover, there was absolutely no evidence that such a ban would have any impact on national security whatsoever. From 9/11 and on, there have been no major terrorist attacks that would have been halted by this limitation./8

The Dept of Homeland Security issued a report which belied his claims. And if national security were paramount, the absence of Saudi Arabia was a clear omission-most of the 9/11 terrorists came from there, and they are one of the greatest sponsors of terrorism in the world./9

Yet, the Executive Order went into effect nonetheless, and the lawyers spent weeks at airports. Personally, I was at JFK for I think 7 days.

We acted. /10

It was terrifying to watch our democracy potentially slide into oblivion, as religious discrimination was being codified by official US policy. There was no other conclusion one could reasonably make, other than this ban was put into place due to the president’s xenophobia.
/11

Unless, apparently, you're the Supreme Court. /12

I agree, the President has wide discretion to determine what is a national security interest, and has great latitude on immigration policy. I agree that sometimes a president must take drastic measures to protect citizens, and this must be balanced with our dearest liberties./13

I agree with all of this - IF the use of such vast power is supported by evidence which shows there is a LEGITIMATE national security interest at stake.

There was no such evidence here. Instead, the facts amassed in this case showed quite the opposite. /14

Shamefully the Supreme Court turned a blind eye to the facts-that the president propounded a racist policy, without basis, to hurt Muslim majority nations-and gave him the power to do it again, without reigning him in; in essence, without a co-equal Supreme Court./15

In retrospect, the Muslim ban now begs certain questions:

What happens if he tries to ban other countries on some additional perceived misguided notion? After all, this very month he declared Canada to be a national security threat./16
newsweek.com/justin-trudeau…

In what other ways will we see racial animus advanced by this administration? We already have the crisis at the border, with the Trump administration removing babies from refugees, and having apparently no plan, and perhaps no intention, of reuniting them with their families./17

And how would Merrick Garland have voted, if the GOP had not stolen the Supreme Court seat now occupied by Neil Gorsuch?/18

cnn.com/2018/06/27/pol…

And so, again, we must act. We must stand up to hatred. We must stand up for those who cannot fend for themselves. We must show that it is unacceptable to diminish the dignity of people who seek our assistance. And we must do it over, and over, until it needn’t be done again./19

Finally, to my Muslim friends, and to all those oppressed by the current presidential administration, let me say this:

I was with you then. I am with you now. I will be with you always.

And there are a lot more right here alongside me.

All ready to act.

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