Trump takes battle over travel ban to high court; asks justices to reinstate
WASHINGTON — Presi- dent Donald Trump’s administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to immediately reinstate his stalled travel ban, aiming to reverse a string of courtroom losses and setting up the biggest legal showdown of his young presidency.
Department of Justice lawyers asked the court to overturn a decision of the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit that kept in place a freeze on Mr. Trump's revised ban.
The request puts a Trump initiative before the Supreme Court for the first time and brings the nine justices into a national drama over claims that the president is targeting Muslims and abusing his authority. The case will give the first indications of how Chief Justice John Roberts’ court will approach one of the most controversial presidents in the nation’s history.
Mr. Trump is asking the court to hear arguments on an expedited basis and to reinstate the executive order in the interim.
The government’s filing late Thursday asks the justices to set aside the 4th Circuit ruling and accept the case for oral arguments. It also asks the high court to lift a nationwide injunction issued by a federal judge in a separate Hawaii case. A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, which covers Hawaii, heard the government’s arguments in that case last month, but has not yet ruled.
At issue is Mr. Trump’s executive order temporarily barring entry into the U.S. by people from six predominantly Muslim countries in an effort to protect the country from terrorists. The administration asked the court to let the ban take effect while the justices decide whether to review a lower court ruling that said the policy was “steeped in animus and directed at a single religious group.”
As a practical matter, the request for immediate action could determine the fate of the policy, given that the ban would be in effect only for 90 days.
The court acts on such requests based on the legal papers without hearing arguments.
The Virginia-based federal appeals court voted 10-3 to uphold a nationwide halt to the policy, saying the travel ban was driven by unconstitutional religious motivations. The majority pointed to Mr. Trump’s campaign vow to bar Muslims from entering the country and to the special preference for religious minorities included in an earlier version of the ban.
Comey slated to testify
James Comey, fired last month as FBI director amid a federal investigation into connections between Russia and the Trump campaign, is set to testify next week at a congressional hearing that could shed light on his private conversations with the president before his dismissal.
The Senate intelligence
committee on Thursday announced Mr. Comey’s appearance, and a Comey associate said he had been cleared to testify by Robert Mueller, another former FBI director now overseeing that investigation as special counsel.
Also on Thursday, two Democratic senators — Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Al Franken of Minnesota — disclosed that they had asked Mr. Comey to open intoa criminal whether investigationAttorney General Jeff Sessions perjured himself when he falsely said at his confirmation hearing that he “did not have communications with the Russians” last year.
In fact, Mr. Sessions met at least twice in 2016 with the Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak.
Meanwhile, Nigel Farage, the former leader of the U.K. Independence Party, ridiculed a published report Thursday that suggests U.S. investigators think he may be able to shed light on any possible collusion between Russia and representatives of Mr. Trump’s campaign.
Debt-ceiling collision
The Trump administration is rejecting a push from some conservatives to stop paying certain bills on time, instead adopting the Obama administration’s argument that the U.S. government failing to make payments of any kind would risk a global financial crisis.
At issue is the country’s looming collision with the debt ceiling, a legal limit on how much the Treasury Department is allowed to borrow to keep paying the country’s bills.
Federal data and anecdotes from tax advisers reveal that a significant number of taxpayers — wealthy Americans and business owners, in particular — are postponing cashing out on investments and other financial decisions, hoping to pay less later if the White House and congressional Republicans pass a huge reduction in tax rates.
Unmasking probe
Rep. Devin Nunes, RCalif., beleaguered head of the House Intelligence Committee Wednesday appeared to have launched an investigation of his own, this one into allegations that senior Obama administration administration officials — former CIA director John Brennan, former national security adviser Susan Rice and former U.S. representative to the United Nations Samantha Power — improperly “unmasked” the identities of Trump associates captured communicating with foreign officials.
Worldwide protest
Protests are expected Saturday in over 100 cities around the world to call for an independent and impartial investigation into alleged connections between Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia.