SCOOP: Ninth Circuit Strikes Down Travel Ban

[executrix]

Adam Liptak, reporting in the New York Times, says that the Ninth Circuit refused to reinstate the travel ban. This is the first appellate decision. It's pretty much inevitable that it will go to the Supreme Court, probably before Gorsuch's confirmation, so a 4-4 deadlock is a real possibility.

Here's the decision:https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/02/09/us/document-Ninth-Circuit-s-Decision-on-Trump-s-Travel-Ban.html

Trump's normal measured and thoughtful response was SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE.

Comments

[lightbird]

If SC is deadlocked then this decision will stand.

The law firm I work for was involved with filing on behalf of the WA state and I did a little bit of the work on it. Very happy to have been a part of it, even if it was just a small part. :)

[dewline]

Also, if they simply refuse to hear it, yes?

(Or can they refuse to hear it?)

[lightbird]

Not sure, but I don't think they would refuse.

[lightbird]

USA Today (and a bunch of other pubs probably) has a summary of possible next steps here. Because they are still one seat short they may decide not to hear the case.

[executrix]

Honor to you! Honor to your cow!

BTW I just got off the line on the Indivisible/Organizing for Action webinar about advocating for Obamacare during the Congressional recess. Are people interested in my posting a summary here?
They're having another call on the 16th about more detailed tactical considerations.

[lightbird]

:) Yay for a Mulan quote!

I would certainly be interested in reading the summary here.

[executrix]

According to this call, which had speakers from Organizing for Action and Indivisible,
1. Members of Congress (MOCs)' main interest is votes, so the gold standard is seeing them at town halls or other public events, or scheduling a group meeting during the recess. A group is harder to ignore than one person.
2. Advocacy can be forceful and passionate while still being respectful and NOT allowing the MOC to write off your group as a bunch of weirdos.
3. If no public event is scheduled during the recess, you can *ask* the MOC to schedule one; if you succeed, you can post the new meeting to the Town Hall Project database.
4. Stress that you will make the MOC accountable at the next election if ze ignores your concerns.
5. Have a list of specific asks for the MOC. This list is specific to Obamacare, but can be adapted to other issues:
* Are you going to vote against repealing Obamacare?
* If you say you are going to "repair" it, what does that mean?
* If you say you are going to "replace" it, does the replace cover the same number of people, on comparable financial terms for premiums, deductibles, and copays? are people with preexisting conditions entitled to coverage? Can children stay on their parents' policies until age 26? will progress in closing the doughnut hole continue?
6. Document as much as possible, on video if possible, with audio or photographs. Then make the recording available on social media. If you're not allowed to record, document *that* and record your group's impressions after the meeting.
7. The speakers said that one reason the Tea Party succeeded was by being relentlessly negative--being opposed to things rather than having a program other than "Do away with taxes, regulation, and social programs." Right now we're against everything the administration is *for* so we can adopt this tactic.

OFA has a toolkit for recess visits, the URL is 2017_training_toolkit_recessvisit.pdf, but I'm an aged luddite and couldn't get my dropbox to open. There will be another strategy call on the 16th, check out OFA and/or Indivisible for registration information.

ETA: This purports to be a link to the recording of the webinar: https://t.co/s0dQAsA84z

[lightbird]

Thank you!

[stardreamer]

And the Washington AG's response to that tweet was, "We've already seen him in court twice. And we're two for two." BURN!