# Travel ban:  Oh for two

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-ban-oh-for-two/782281>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [March 16, 2017, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-ban-oh-for-two/782281 "2017-03-16T02:26:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 8

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**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-ban-oh-for-two/782281/141 "2017-03-21T02:25:41Z")

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What jshore said. Trump has basically spent his entire career saying stuff, and then walking away from it without correcting or withdrawing it, and even going on to say the complete opposite. He simply accepts no responsibility for anything he says, which is why he’s quite shameless about saying things that are unfounded, and stating as fact things which he has no reason to believe to be factual.

It has served him reasonably well in business - especially since his business is reality television, which as we all know has no actual connection with reality - but it’s really coming back to bite him in the arse in his current role. What the President of the United States says _does_ matter, and everybody thinks so - except, apparently, the President of the United States.

This won’t end well.

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-ban-oh-for-two/782281/142 "2017-03-21T06:04:22Z")

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> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#):
>
> No, I don’t think it went away, and yes, I agree with everyone that that is Trump’s intent and it’s horrible.
> 
> However. Does this effectively mean that Trump can create no possible EO about immigration with respect to majority-Muslim countries? How far does “we know what you’re really doing” go as a legal precedent?
> 
> Let’s take Yemen, which we are currently bombing. If Trump were to pass an EO that limited immigration from Yemen, which is majority Muslim, would it justifiably be struck down?

If his lawyers were able to prove that they have historically committed acts of terrorism on American soil, that there is a real risk of such occurring in future, _and_ that such a strategy would be successful in preventing them from entering the country, which they have been completely unable to do convincingly to this point.

> [@](#):
>
> It seems sort of absurd to me that there are people in Yemen so dangerous that we have to send flying robots in to kill them (and a lot of other people who had the misfortune to be within the blast radius) with bombs, yet also believe that Yemenis are so innocuous that it’s 100% unreasonable and motivated by bigotry to stop any of them from entering the country for a little while. Similarly, how crazy is it that it is apparently totally within the President’s power to order assassinations of Yemenis, but not to deny them visas?

What seems absurd to me is that (to use your example) a Yemeni national who was a terrorist wouldn’t think to get a fake passport and attempt to enter the country from a non-banned nation. Maybe fly to Canada and cross the border from there, where there are many stations that are far less policed than American airports that handle international flights.

Assassinations are against specific, individual targets who (theoretically) have been shown to be dangerous to national security in and of themselves. Blanket denial of visas is just a kneejerk reaction to fulfill a campaign promise, which doesn’t actually solve the problem he says it does and hurts innocent individuals in the process.

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**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-ban-oh-for-two/782281/143 "2017-03-21T06:12:28Z")

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> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#):
>
> It seems sort of absurd to me that there are people in Yemen so dangerous that we have to send flying robots in to kill them (and a lot of other people who had the misfortune to be within the blast radius) with bombs, yet also believe that Yemenis are so innocuous that it’s 100% unreasonable and motivated by bigotry to stop any of them from entering the country for a little while. Similarly, how crazy is it that it is apparently totally within the President’s power to order assassinations of Yemenis, but not to deny them visas?

It seems absurd to me that there are Americans so dangerous that the government has them executed, or imprisoned for life, and yet it believes that Americans are so innocuous that it generally allows them to walk the streets without restriction and to enter and leave the country as they please.

Oh, wait, maybe it’s not so absurd. Maybe the people being sentenced to death or life imprisonment are not being sentenced because they are American so much as because they have committed serious crimes? Maybe their nationality actually has nothing to do with their crimes or their sentences?

Well, if you concede that’s possible in the case of Americans, I think you have to concede that it’s also possible in the case of Yemenis. Basically, it’s discriminatory, irrational, offensive and in many circumstances illegal to target somebody simply because she has the same citizenship as somebody else who has done something you don’t like. Trump, obviously, has difficulty understanding this, but a doper should grasp it readily.

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-ban-oh-for-two/782281/144 "2017-03-21T06:32:40Z")

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Er…just to be clear, my first response to **walrus** in #142 above was answering the first question, not the one about being struck down.

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**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-ban-oh-for-two/782281/145 "2017-03-21T06:44:36Z")

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I wasn’t intending a critique of your position, Johnny Ace, but of Walrus’s.

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**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-ban-oh-for-two/782281/146 "2017-03-21T16:52:03Z")

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> [@CarnalK](#):
>
> The United States is not bombing Yemen. The U.S. is helping out with the naval blockade and logistics but not the bomb campaign.

What?

Here’s [CNN reporting drone strikes in Yemen from “a US official and the Pentagon”](http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/23/politics/drone-strikes-president-trump/).

One of us is confused.

> [@Johnny\_Ace](#):
>
> What seems absurd to me is that (to use your example) a Yemeni national who was a terrorist wouldn’t think to get a fake passport and attempt to enter the country from a non-banned nation. Maybe fly to Canada and cross the border from there, where there are many stations that are far less policed than American airports that handle international flights.

I mean, if you’re arguing that our travel security apparatus is absurd and nonsensical and so full of holes that the average sixth-grader could figure out how to circumvent it with moderate effort, I agree.

But that predates Trump’s presidency, and none of the _other_ bullshit that we and foreign travelers have to put up with has been successfully halted, despite the fact that brown people seem to be “randomly selected” by the TSA awfully often.

I’m also not sure that it’s an effective argument against additional restrictions. That is, you can’t implement a complete and perfect security plan in one fell swoop. You built it up over time, and the fact that one small part of it can be easily circumvented doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t add that while also working on ways around the circumvention.

Like, I think that checking people’s passports before they get on planes is a good thing to do. Sure, someone could get around it by getting a fake passport, but that doesn’t mean that checking passports is completely worthless.

> [@](#):
>
> Assassinations are against specific, individual targets who (theoretically) have been shown to be dangerous to national security in and of themselves. Blanket denial of visas is just a kneejerk reaction to fulfill a campaign promise, which doesn’t actually solve the problem he says it does and hurts innocent individuals in the process.

I think the whole thing hinges on your parenthetical “theoretically”. Who is determining that these people are worthy of execution? The executive branch of the government. And (apparently?) we trust that they are capable of making this distinction. At least, no Federal judges have seen fit to stop them from continuing to kill people in Yemen, despite no due process or evidence being available for public review.

> [@UDS](#):
>
> It seems absurd to me that there are Americans so dangerous that the government has them executed, or imprisoned for life, and yet it believes that Americans are so innocuous that it generally allows them to walk the streets without restriction and to enter and leave the country as they please.

Sure, but there is actual due process for Americans who are executed (except the ones with scary Muslim-sounding names that we kill overseas with drones), and the Constitution protects our general right to walk around and to enter the country. So, perhaps it is kind of absurd, but it’s absurdity encoded into law.

The difference with Yemeni drone strikes is that it’s _entirely_ within the purview of the executive branch of government. And this _has_ been challenged in the courts. The ACLU is fairly adamant that you can’t kill (at least) American citizens overseas without judicial process. But the courts have not agreed. So, apparently, it’s ok to kill select people because you say they are terrorists (based on no known evidence), but it’s not ok to restrict entry to a larger group of people because you say the risk that a terrorist among them could get through is too high (based on no known evidence).

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**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-ban-oh-for-two/782281/147 "2017-03-21T17:45:52Z")

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> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#):
>
> What?
> 
> Here’s [CNN reporting drone strikes in Yemen from “a US official and the Pentagon”](http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/23/politics/drone-strikes-president-trump/).
> 
> One of us is confused.

I think we are both slightly wrong I guess. Saying “we are currently bombing” Yemen would imply we are part of the Saudi led bombing campaign, not the occasional drone strike. But by that measure, there’s a fair number of countries the U.S. is “currently bombing”, several of which did not make Trump’s list.

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**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-ban-oh-for-two/782281/148 "2017-03-21T18:03:08Z")

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> [@CarnalK](#):
>
> I think we are both slightly wrong I guess. Saying “we are currently bombing” Yemen would imply we are part of the Saudi led bombing campaign, not the occasional drone strike.

Ok, it looks like we were just using different definitions. For the purposes of my argument, recent past and possible future drone strikes count.

> [@](#):
>
> But by that measure, there’s a fair number of countries the U.S. is “currently bombing”, several of which did not make Trump’s list.

But you’re missing why I brought this up. I’m not saying that every country in which we’re using bombs to kill people should have travel restrictions.

I’m saying the process by which we determine whether or not to kill people in a particular country and whether or not to give visas to people in that country are the same: The executive branch says that it’s the right thing to do, based on evidence, or the lack thereof, that we have no way of verifying.

Yet the former is apparently ok, according to our legal system. Not allowing someone into the country is so grave a miscarriage of justice that it must be stopped, but killing them with robots is ok.

Imagine for the sake of argument, that there really does exist solid evidence of some kind of plot in Yemen that seeks to get enemy combatants through the visa process and onto American soil. And, even though I started the last sentence with “for the sake of argument”, I’m going to reiterate here that I don’t think such evidence exists. But imagine that it does. I would say that temporarily limiting visas to Yemenis wouldn’t be unreasonable in such a situation.

Now, how would we, the people, differentiate between that imaginary case and the current one? We don’t know what evidence the President has. We know he’s a bullshitter, and we can’t really trust what he says. But we (apparently) trust him enough to kill people he claims are terrorists, and the courts have not challenged him to produce reasoning for that.

Note that Trump made a statement that the US should “kill terrorists’ families”, which is a war crime, and that drone strikes [made under his command have killed family members of terrorists](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/01/31/donald-kill-their-families-trump-played-into-al-qaeda-s-hands.html). That seems awfully analogous to the immigration restrictions, but even worse.

So, based on his previous statements, should the courts stop Trump from all military operations in majority-Muslim countries?

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**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-ban-oh-for-two/782281/149 "2017-03-21T18:15:25Z")

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It seemed like that’s why you brought it up:

> [@](#):
>
> It seems sort of absurd to me that there are people in Yemen so dangerous that we have to send flying robots in to kill them (and a lot of other people who had the misfortune to be within the blast radius) with bombs, yet also believe that Yemenis are so innocuous that it’s 100% unreasonable and motivated by bigotry to stop any of them from entering the country for a little while.

That sure reads like “we’re bombing them, so why not travel ban them?”

But regarding your last point, I can’t really see who could get legal standing in court to challenge drone strikes except perhaps congress saying the president is waging undeclared war. And if that actually happened then yes, I think it would be nice if the courts put a stop to it.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-ban-oh-for-two/782281/150 "2017-03-21T18:21:31Z")

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> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#):
>
> What?
> 
> Here’s [CNN reporting drone strikes in Yemen from “a US official and the Pentagon”](http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/23/politics/drone-strikes-president-trump/).
> 
> One of us is confused.
> 
> I mean, if you’re arguing that our travel security apparatus is absurd and nonsensical and so full of holes that the average sixth-grader could figure out how to circumvent it with moderate effort, I agree.
> 
> But that predates Trump’s presidency, and none of the _other_ bullshit that we and foreign travelers have to put up with has been successfully halted, despite the fact that brown people seem to be “randomly selected” by the TSA awfully often.
> 
> I’m also not sure that it’s an effective argument against additional restrictions. That is, you can’t implement a complete and perfect security plan in one fell swoop. You built it up over time, and the fact that one small part of it can be easily circumvented doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t add that while also working on ways around the circumvention.
> 
> Like, I think that checking people’s passports before they get on planes is a good thing to do. Sure, someone could get around it by getting a fake passport, but that doesn’t mean that checking passports is completely worthless.

I was discussing the travel ban, not the drone strikes. But I never denied that they occurred.

I agree about the TSA/DHS. What boggles me is why so much effort is put into this nonsensical ban instead of just building up the screening procedures from the get-go. Of course, I’m less than confident that any of this is any more than a Trump attention-getting device.

> [@](#):
>
> I think the whole thing hinges on your parenthetical “theoretically”. Who is determining that these people are worthy of execution? The executive branch of the government. And (apparently?) we trust that they are capable of making this distinction. At least, no Federal judges have seen fit to stop them from continuing to kill people in Yemen, despite no due process or evidence being available for public review.

Well, when you’re talking about bin Laden or other high-ranking members of al Qaeda or ISIL, the distinction is fairly obvious. Regardless, it’s a rare, individually-targeted thing which bears no real similarity to the blanket ban.

> [@](#):
>
> Sure, but there is actual due process for Americans who are executed (except the ones with scary Muslim-sounding names that we kill overseas with drones), and the Constitution protects our general right to walk around and to enter the country. So, perhaps it is kind of absurd, but it’s absurdity encoded into law.  
> The difference with Yemeni drone strikes is that it’s _entirely_ within the purview of the executive branch of government. And this _has_ been challenged in the courts. The ACLU is fairly adamant that you can’t kill (at least) American citizens overseas without judicial process. But the courts have not agreed. So, apparently, it’s ok to kill select people because you say they are terrorists (based on no known evidence), but it’s not ok to restrict entry to a larger group of people because you say the risk that a terrorist among them could get through is too high (based on no known evidence).

Got a link for the ruling? I’d be interested to read that. I hadn’t heard of it.

‘No known evidence’ doesn’t mean that there isn’t any in the first case; in the second, there is literally no evidence whatsoever.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-ban-oh-for-two/782281/151 "2017-03-21T18:32:12Z")

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Heh yet another post correcting a previous post. Grr…

This is what I get for replying without reading the rest of the posts, and then reading the quoted response, which cuts out others’ quotes within it. Just ignore the stuff about drones in my last post.

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**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-ban-oh-for-two/782281/152 "2017-03-21T21:05:27Z")

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> [@CarnalK](#):
>
> It seemed like that’s why you brought it up:
> 
> That sure reads like “we’re bombing them, so why not travel ban them?”

Fair enough. I can see how my initial comment could be read that way. Hopefully my further explanation makes my point clearer.

[quote=“Johnny\_Ace, post:150, topic:782281”]

Well, when you’re talking about bin Laden or other high-ranking members of al Qaeda or ISIL, the distinction is fairly obvious. Regardless, it’s a rare, individually-targeted thing which bears no real similarity to the blanket ban.

> [@](#):
>
> Got a link for the ruling? I’d be interested to read that. I hadn’t heard of it.

[Here’s a summary (not the ruling) about one of the suits the ACLU filed.](https://www.aclu.org/cases/al-aulaqi-v-panetta-constitutional-challenge-killing-three-us-citizens?redirect=targetedkillings) It was dismissed, as **CarnalK** suggested, because apparently the father of an American citizen executed by the US government doesn’t have standing.

> [@](#):
>
> ‘No known evidence’ doesn’t mean that there isn’t any in the first case; in the second, there is literally no evidence whatsoever.

To clarify, when you say first and second case, are you referring to the drone strikes vs travel ban, or to my hypothetical travel ban / real travel ban?

My point is that we don’t really know. I can certainly _imagine_ evidence that might make a temporary blanket travel ban in a certain country reasonable. Not because everyone in that country is a terrorist, but because the evidence raises enough doubts about a terrorist currently getting through screening that blah blah blah. I don’t actually think that’s the case. But I don’t know. Nor do I know whether the people the military kills or imprisons for “terrorism” are actually terrorists.

Circling back to the main point: I think that the travel ban is just Trump’s bigotry wrapped in a weak pretense of national security. But I can’t see how a legal precedent blocking it will hold up because:

1. The pretense isn’t on its face unreasonable. Evidence _could_ exist that would lead to such a ban for valid reasons, and we and the courts don’t get to see that evidence.
2. We accept basically the same argument and lack of evidence for _even worse_ things the government does.

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**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-ban-oh-for-two/782281/153 "2017-03-21T21:24:21Z")

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Well I can’t speak to the legalities in this case but in general, public statements are going to have a legal effect. If I publicly declare “I’m going to kill that guy!” it really does change the judge’s opinion about whether driving the forklift over him was an accident or not. That’s just the only realistic way we can expect judges to make decisions.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-ban-oh-for-two/782281/154 "2017-03-21T22:49:24Z")

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> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#):
>
> Fair enough. I can see how my initial comment could be read that way. Hopefully my further explanation makes my point clearer.
> 
> > [@Johnny\_Ace](#):
> >
> > Well, when you’re talking about bin Laden or other high-ranking members of al Qaeda or ISIL, the distinction is fairly obvious. Regardless, it’s a rare, individually-targeted thing which bears no real similarity to the blanket ban.
> 
> [QUOTE=iamthewalrus(:3]  
> [Here’s a summary (not the ruling) about one of the suits the ACLU filed.](https://www.aclu.org/cases/al-aulaqi-v-panetta-constitutional-challenge-killing-three-us-citizens?redirect=targetedkillings) It was dismissed, as **CarnalK** suggested, because apparently the father of an American citizen executed by the US government doesn’t have standing.

[/QUOTE]

Thanks for that. 🙂

> [@](#):
>
> To clarify, when you say first and second case, are you referring to the drone strikes vs travel ban, or to my hypothetical travel ban / real travel ban?

Assassinations vs. travel ban.

> [@](#):
>
> My point is that we don’t really know. I can certainly _imagine_ evidence that might make a temporary blanket travel ban in a certain country reasonable. Not because everyone in that country is a terrorist, but because the evidence raises enough doubts about a terrorist currently getting through screening that blah blah blah. I don’t actually think that’s the case. But I don’t know. Nor do I know whether the people the military kills or imprisons for “terrorism” are actually terrorists.
> 
> Circling back to the main point: I think that the travel ban is just Trump’s bigotry wrapped in a weak pretense of national security. But I can’t see how a legal precedent blocking it will hold up because:
> 
> 1. The pretense isn’t on its face unreasonable. Evidence _could_ exist that would lead to such a ban for valid reasons, and we and the courts don’t get to see that evidence.
> 2. We accept basically the same argument and lack of evidence for _even worse_ things the government does.

Courts can have access to classified information; they simply seal transcripts of the proceedings. However, the government hasn’t made that case. Their evidence regarding the travel ban, which is apparently insufficient, isn’t classified. If they had such evidence, rest assured that they would be presenting it.

Nevertheless, I’d posit that their argument is false on its face, as they have been unable to show credible threats of attacks on American soil by nationals of the banned countries.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-ban-oh-for-two/782281/155 "2017-05-25T18:27:56Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> A federal appeals court upheld Thursday an injunction against President Donald Trump’s travel ban against six Muslim-majority countries.
> 
> The ruling upholds a lower court’s decision to halt core portions of the executive order indefinitely.

> **[Appeals court upholds block on Trump’s travel ban | CNN Politics](https://www.cnn.com/2017/05/25/politics/4th-circuit-travel-ban/)**
>
> A federal appeals court upheld Thursday a ruling blocking President Donald Trump’s travel ban against six Muslim-majority countries.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-ban-oh-for-two/782281/156 "2017-05-25T18:32:19Z")

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> [@PastTense](#):
>
> [http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/25/politics/4th-circuit-travel-ban/](http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/25/politics/4th-circuit-travel-ban/)

The [first paragraph](http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/25/politics/read-travel-ban-ruling/index.html)is powerful.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-ban-oh-for-two/782281/157 "2017-05-25T18:51:14Z")

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> [@Procrustus](#):
>
> The [first paragraph](http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/25/politics/read-travel-ban-ruling/index.html)is powerful.

I assume you mean starting on page 12? Because the First paragraph on page 1 is kinda meh. 😛

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-ban-oh-for-two/782281/158 "2017-05-25T23:26:54Z")

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Jeff Sessions says he’ll take it to the Supreme Court.

(“We’re gonna need a bigger docket.”)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2017, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-ban-oh-for-two/782281/159 "2017-05-26T02:25:31Z")

</div>

> [@Procrustus](#):
>
> The [first paragraph](http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/25/politics/read-travel-ban-ruling/index.html)is powerful.

It is.

But passion and moral certitude should not be the basis of constitutional rulings, in my view.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2017, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travel-ban-oh-for-two/782281/160 "2017-05-26T02:32:49Z")

</div>

> [@Bricker](#):
>
> It is.
> 
> But passion and moral certitude should not be the basis of constitutional rulings, in my view.

I hate to say it, but that first paragraph of the opinion looks to me like waving one hell of a red cape in front of Justice Kennedy. Not exactly an attempt at consensus-building. :dubious:

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