WASHINGTON –  Johnathan Smith, legal director of Muslim Advocates, released the following statement in response to yesterday’s unanimous decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the block of the travel portions of the Muslim ban:

“Once again, the Ninth Circuit has soundly rejected President Trump’s Muslim Ban as wrong and unlawful.  In upholding the district court’s nationwide injunction, the Court found that the President far exceeded his authority in issuing this bigoted and discriminatory executive order.  The Court also recognized that there is no national security justification for a policy that targets and bans individuals simply because they come from a Muslim-majority nation.

With this decision, the Ninth Circuit joins the millions of others who have made clear that religious discrimination has no place in the United States.  But even though the Muslim Ban remains blocked, individuals all across the country continue to suffer because of the President’s actions.  People with no connection to the seven impacted countries continue to be stopped, searched, and detained at U.S. airports and borders simply for being Muslim, or having a name that “sounds Muslim.” These policies and practices are part of a concerted effort by the Trump administration to demonize and marginalize Muslim, Latino and other immigrant communities.

We applaud this ruling and we will continue to oppose President Trump’s discriminatory Muslim Ban all the way to the Supreme Court.”

Muslim Advocates’ friend of the court brief was cited on page 68 of yesterday’s ruling.

Muslim Advocates is a national legal advocacy and educational organization that works on the frontlines of civil rights to guarantee freedom and justice for Americans of all faiths.