U.S. District Judge James Robart, whose temporary restraining order on Donald Trump’s Muslim ban was upheld by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, is moving ahead with the lawsuit by Washington and Minnesota challenging the ban. The restraining order is still in place, but the states asked for the lawsuit to proceed as soon as possible:
"Given the gravity of the states' constitutional allegations, defendants' stated national security concerns and the public interests at stake, the states respectfully submit that discovery should proceed without delay," the state lawyers said in a legal brief.
The Trump Justice Department wants to delay while the 9th Circuit considers whether to have an 11-judge panel reconsider the injunction, but Robart has no patience with that:
Michelle Bennett, a Justice Department lawyer, told Robart there was no basis for speeding up the process, arguing the states are not being harmed because there's a temporary injunction in place.
She asked Robart to stick with a previous schedule that gives the government until April 3 to file a response to the states' complaint. Robart said he was "surprised" by that statement, since the president had said he wants to "see you in court."
Ouch. That should also remind the Justice Department lawyers that they’re going to have to answer questions about many of Trump’s other statements—they’re not just defending a sloppily written executive order, they’ll have to explain the fact that, while they’re arguing the ban doesn’t really target a religion, Trump is on the record repeatedly talking about a Muslim ban. You can see why they’d want time to come up with a creative argument about why Trump’s words don’t matter, but thanks to Robart, they’re going to have to hustle.