June 26, 2017, New York – In response to the Supreme Court’s decision to review Trump’s Muslim ban, the Center for Constitutional Rights issued the following statement:

While we are gratified that the Supreme Court did not fully lift the stays on Trump’s self-proclaimed Muslim ban, the Court should have extended protections of the lower courts’ stays more broadly to protect all Muslims from the six countries affected, regardless of their connection to the United States.

Trump’s Muslim ban represents a historic act of discrimination, and we remain hopeful that the Supreme Court will ultimately and conclusively reject it. This egregious abuse of executive power resulted in widespread injustices and rights violations of individuals lawfully entering the United States; people affected were detained for hours in airports across the country without food, medical care, or access to legal counsel, coerced into waiving their rights, and some were deported against court orders. As CCR documented in a complaint to the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security at the advent of Trump’s first Muslim Ban, Customs and Border Patrol agents stoked panic and fear as they implemented this ill-conceived and unlawful order.

This order is still unconstitutional on the basis of violation of First Amendment protections against religious discrimination and still rooted in anti-Muslim animus. It is also steeped in a dangerous white nationalist current that runs at the heart of this administration.

There is only so much the Courts can do to save us from the ugly, reactionary politics that have taken hold of the levers of power. We will not allow this to become the new normal. We the People must continue to demonstrate, in the streets, on the ballots, and in the airports, that we reject and will resist the politics of fear, Islamophobia, and white supremacy.