A Revised Travel Ban Is Coming

It's been a week since the three judges at the U.S. 9th Circuit voted against Donald Trump's travel ban. That decisions essentially extended the ruling of the federal judge James Robart who placed a temporary block on the executive order. Since the ruling, there has been speculation on whether or not Trump would appeal the case to the Supreme Court for further consideration. However, on Thursday, the Department of Justice told the court that the Trump administration plans to rescind the travel ban, and instead, revise and present a new one.

The public, especially the immigrant communities affected, will be more than curious to see what this revised travel order looks like. A report from the New York Post shared that one of the concerns expressed by the judges at the federal appeals court was the lack of evidence that people blocked by the travel ban posed a legitimate threat. In their decision, the panel stated: "The Government has pointed to no evidence that an alien of the countries named in the Order has perpetrated a terrorist attack in the United States."

The original order placed a 90-day travel ban targeting seven countries, where visa holders were denied entries into the U.S. The seven countries affected were Syria, Somalia, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Libya and Sudan, all of which are Muslim-majority countries. Refugees from Syria were indefinitely banned under the order.

Due to the disproportionate amount of the Muslim population affected by the travel ban, even before the 9th Circuit ruling, multiple federal judges raised concerns over the constitutionality of the executive order. Some worries were specifically related to the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, which "prohibits government actions that unduly favor one religion over another."

It's worth noting that the filing from the Department of Justice put an emphasis on rescinding the original travel ban due to the time it would potentially take to push their case through a Supreme Court trial. The filing stated: "In so doing, the President will clear the way for immediately protecting the country rather than pursuing further, potentially time-consuming litigation."

Based on this statement, it seems the administration is eager to release ta revised travel ban.

It's hard to predict how Trump will tailor the next set of travel and refugee restrictions or what he will or won't keep from his original executive order. What is certain is that lawyers, advocates, and critics will be waiting and ready.