In a first-of-its-kind lawsuit, Washington state's attorney general Monday sued Donald Trump, the Department of Homeland Security, and high-ranking Trump administration officials over Trump's executive order banning immigrants from seven majority-Muslim nations.
If successful, the lawsuit would overturn Trump’s refugee ban nationwide, much like the lawsuits emanating from Texas halted many of President Obama’s executive actions. Additionally, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a motion for a temporary restraining order that would immediately halt the executive order’s implementation.
The complaint asserts that the President’s actions are “separating Washington families, harming thousands of Washington residents, damaging Washington’s economy, hurting Washington-based companies, and undermining Washington’s sovereign interest in remaining a welcoming place for immigrants and refugees.” [...]
Ferguson argues that the Executive Order violates the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of Equal Protection and the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, infringes individuals’ constitutional right to Due Process and contravenes the federal Immigration and Nationality Act. [...]
On Saturday, a federal judge in Brooklyn issued an order enjoining the Trump Administration from enforcing its Executive Order as to certain individuals who have arrived in the United States. Ferguson’s lawsuit is broader in scope and seeks to invalidate entire sections of the Executive Order nationwide.
We're following tweets here from Seattle-based reporter Sydney Brownstone who covered Monday’s press conference with Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Attorney General Ferguson.
"In our view, the president is not adhering to the Constitution," Ferguson said. "[The order’s] impact, its cruelty, its clear purpose is an unconscionable religious test."
Gov. Inslee called the order “unconstitutional” and “cruel.”
"We're here today with a lawsuit saying that our nation cannot sacrifice its basic liberty or its basic humanity because of the power of fear," Inslee added. "An attack on any faith is an attack on all faiths."
This story is developing. Washington is one of 17 states that have condemned Trump’s refugee ban as unconstitutional.