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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.
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