‘Travel ban’ case likely hurt after president’s Twitter rant

WASHINGTON — President Trump may have dealt a self-inflicted blow to his bid to convince the U.S. Supreme Court to save his revised travel ban, taking to Twitter in a move that stunned legal experts and even drew a rare social media rebuke from the husband of one of Trump’s closest White House aides.

“People, the lawyers and the courts can call it whatever they want, but I am calling it what we need and what it is, a TRAVEL BAN!” Trump posted in reaction to the weekend terror attack in London. “The Justice Dept. should have stayed with the original Travel Ban, not the watered down, politically correct version they submitted to S.C.”

Trump continued: “The Justice Dept. should ask for an expedited hearing of the watered down Travel Ban before the Supreme Court -& seek much tougher version! In any event we are EXTREME VETTING people coming into the U.S. in order to help keep our country safe. The courts are slow and political!”

George Conway, the husband of Kellyanne Conway, a counselor to the president, and an attorney who turned down a top Justice Department position last week, reacted on Twitter, a medium he rarely uses.

“These tweets may make some ppl feel better, but they certainly won’t help OSG get 5 votes in SCOTUS, which is what actually matters,” George Conway tweeted. “Sad.”

Trump’s tweets pose legal problems for his case as the Justice Department seeks an expedited Supreme Court review, given that lower courts cited similar past comments from Trump — including the phrase “watered down” — in concluding that the intent behind the order is to fulfill a campaign promise of a Muslim ban, which would amount to unconstitutional religious discrimination.

Neal Katyal, the lead attorney representing one of the states challenging the order, tweeted that the president was helping the attorneys’ case.

“Its kinda odd to have the defendant in Hawaii v Trump acting as our cocounsel,” Katyal tweeted. “We don’t need the help but will take it!”