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A4 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 3 June 2017
Supreme Court asked to let Trump travel ban take effect

By MARK SHERMAN many of the same argu-
SADIE GURMAN ments that its lawyers have
Associated Press made in the lower courts,
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hav- including their view that
ing so far failed to per- statements President Don-
suade judges to allow its ald Trump made as a can-
travel ban to take effect, didate — before he took
the Trump administration is the presidential oath —
turning to the nation’s high- should not be considered.
est court with its slim con- Both the 4th U.S. Circuit
servative majority. Court of Appeals and a
The Justice Department on federal judge in Hawaii
Thursday formally asked the cited Trump’s campaign
Supreme Court to let a ban comments as evidence
on visitors from six mostly that religious prejudice
Muslim countries and refu- undergirds the travel ban.
gees from around the world Those court orders blocking
to be put in place. The high the ban are the subject of
court also is being asked to the administration’s plea to
uphold the constitutionality the Supreme Court.
of the Trump travel policy, “Without campaign mate-
which lower courts have rials, the court of appeals’
blocked because it shows analysis collapses,” Wall
anti-Muslim prejudice. wrote in his high court re-
The administration is bank- People stand on the steps of the Supreme Court at sunset in Washington. The Trump administration quest for an order to allow
ing on being able to per- made a plea to the Supreme Court on June 1, 2017, to let travel ban take effect. the policy to be enforced.
suade at least five justices, (AP Photo/Jon Elswick) Trump’s recent speech to
a majority of the nine-mem- Sudan, Syria and Yemen is vided the basis for ... (the) rulings that are keeping the Middle East leaders in Sau-
ber court, that they should di Arabia provides more
defer to the president’s needed to “safeguard na- temporary pause,” Wall travel ban on hold. “The evidence that Trump’s
wrote. The administration
tional security,” acting So-
government has not set
considerable authority policy was not motivated
over immigration and his licitor General Jeffrey Wall also wants to halt the U.S. forth any justification for a by anti-Muslim prejudice
stay,” Jadwat said, using
wrote in the Justice Depart-
refugee program for 120
responsibility for keeping because the president ex-
the nation safe. ment’s filings. days. the legal term by which plicitly said the fight against
the Supreme Court would
“The courts below openly Omar Jadwat, director of
Trump determined that a terrorism “’is not a battle
90-day pause on visitors second-guessed the presi- the ACLU’s Immigrants’ block lower court rulings. between different faiths,’”
The administration’s Su-
dent’s finding that those Rights Project, said the jus-
from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Wall wrote.q
conditions and risks pro- tices shouldn’t disturb court preme Court filings reflect
Deputy AG: New push for tougher
sentences is not reviving drug war
By SADIE GURMAN criticism last month as the
Associated Press author of a memo that
WASHINGTON (AP) — The chastised then-FBI Director
Justice Department’s new James Comey’s handling
policy urging harsher pun- of the Hillary Clinton email
ishments for most criminals case, which the Trump ad-
is meant to target the worst ministration initially cited
gang members and drug as justification for Comey’s
traffickers, Deputy Attorney sudden firing. The president
General Rod Rosenstein later said he planned to fire
said Friday in an effort to Comey no matter what.
mollify critics who fear a re- Attorney General Jeff Ses-
vival of drug war policies. sions’ directive last month
Rosenstein emphasized urges federal prosecutors
the department’s plan to to seek the steepest penal-
fight violent crime that in- ties for most crime suspects,
cludes prosecutors’ ability a reversal of Obama-era
to decide whether to level policies that aimed to re-
charges that carry manda- duce the federal prison
tory minimum sentences population and show more
— a carrots-and-sticks ap- leniency to lower-level
proach for gaining coop- drug offenders. Sessions’
eration. He acknowledged Democratic predeces-
that federal prosecutors will sor, Eric Holder, told pros-
sometimes charge lower- ecutors they could, in some
level criminals to take down cases, leave drug quanti-
entire gangs but “that’s the ties out of documents to
exception not the rule.” avoid charging suspects
The longtime top prosecu- with crimes that trigger
tor in Maryland, Rosen- yearslong mandatory mini-
stein came under intense mum punishments.