Hawaii Fights Back Against Trump’s Travel Ban, But Ninth Circuit Can Only Play ‘Sad Trombone’ Over Appeal

What a long, strange trip it’s been since the early days of President Trump’s travel banand the attendant furor over (and misrepresentation of) it.

Months of revision and wrangling finally led to the Supreme Court recently allowingmuch of the ban to go forward.

Those opposed to it, however, refuse to give up fighting. The state of Hawaii wanted a workaround that allowed the categories of people who can bypass the ban to be expanded, so it went to court to make it happen.

It had no luck whatsoever.

From The Washington Examiner:

A U.S. appeals court refused Friday to clarify the scope of the Supreme Court’s lifting of the blockade against President Trump’s travel ban, citing a lack of jurisdiction.

Earlier Friday, the state of Hawaii had asked the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to expand the categories of people who can bypass the travel ban.

On Thursday, a U.S. district judge had refused to act on Hawaii’s request, leaving in place the Trump administration’s rules regarding what classes of people to exempt from the travel ban.

The judge in that case, Derrick Watson, also claimed he did not have the authority to act on Hawaii’s request.

Watson, who originally ruled to block the travel ban, said in his decision that Hawaii should bring its challenge of the Trump administration’s definition of “bona fide relationship” to the Supreme Court.

That isn’t just any Circuit Court that punted, that’s the often liberally activist Ninth Circuit Court.

The Ninth being what it is, however, it couldn’t help but try to nudge things in another direction that might be more satisfactory for the state:

While a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit — all Clinton appointees — claimed to not have jurisdiction over Hawaii’s case, it suggested the state could go back to the district court with a different challenge.

A Reuters report suggests Hawaii seems to have taken the advice:

Earlier this week Hawaii had asked a Honolulu judge for a court order clarifying the Supreme Court’s ruling to allow grandparents into the United States. The judge, along with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, ruled that the lower courts did not have the power to simply clarify the Supreme Court’s opinion.

However, the 9th Circuit on Friday said the courts could issue an injunction against Trump’s policy in the future, if the government misapplied the Supreme Court’s ruling to a particular person or entity harmed by the travel ban.

Hours after that ruling, Hawaii made such an injunction request in a Honolulu federal court. Hawaii said the state itself, along with resettlement agencies, are harmed by Trump’s guidelines because they are prevented from helping refugees move there.

The fight over this ban isn’t likely to end soon, but the administration at least has put together its first string of victories since it began.

Source: Conservative Daily