Vermont Business Magazine Today, 16 Attorneys General announced the filing of an amicus brief in support of Washington and Minnesota in the federal lawsuit against the Trump Administration’s executive order on immigration. In an amici curiae brief filed with the US9th Circuit Court of Appeals, co-authored by Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts, the Attorneys General signatories declared:“Although the amici States’ residents, institutions, industries, and economies differ in various ways, we now all stand together in facing concrete, immediate and irreparable harms from the Executive Order.”
The amicus brief is signed by Attorneys General from Vermont, California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia. The amicus brief follows other legal action by state Attorneys General to oppose President Trump’s order. The amicus brief is availablehere.
“I am proud to support Washington and Minnesota in their legal action against this unconstitutional order,” Attorney General Donovan said. The amicus brief makes clear that the states have standing to challenge the immigration executive order because of the harm the order inflicts on the states themselves, including:
- State Educational Institutions.The brief details the disruption of faculty staffing, student attendance, and on-going administration at state colleges and universities, as well as additional costs many of these resource-constrained public institutions cannot afford, caused by the immigration order. In particular, it notes the thousands of faculty and students from the seven affected countries who currently work or study at Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, California, and Virginia state universities
- State Medical Institutions.The brief makes clear the similar injuries President Trump’s order causes to state medical institutions and the provision of care, disrupting the matching process at medical schools and impacting medical residents and other physicians, faculty, and researchers. These institutions serve some of the neediest populations, and are now at risk of decreased staffing as a result of the order.
- Diminished Tax Revenues from Students, Tourists, and Business Visitors.The executive order abruptly halted the entry of students, tourists, and other visitors from the affected seven countries – and at the same time stopped the millions of dollars they contribute to the states’ economies. The brief also makes clear that there are longer-term harms to the states’ regional economies as a result of the order, as it hampers the movement of people and ideas into the states.
- Irreparable Harm due to Establishment Clause Violations.As the states have made clear in other filings, the executive order represents an egregious violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment – and this “erosion of religious liberties cannot be deterred by awarding damages to the victims of such erosion.”
- Harm to States’ Sovereign and Quasi-Sovereign Interests in Enforcing Their Own Statutes.The executive order also undermines the states’ abilities to enforce their own antidiscrimination laws, ensure the benefits of existing federal laws and regulations – such as the Immigration and National Act – are not denied to individuals arriving in these states, and protect residents, businesses, and communities.
The amicus brief calls for a denial of the federal government’s emergency motion for stay, as it would return the country to the confusion and chaos created by the executive order in its implementation last weekend.
Vermont AG: Feb 6, 2017