FAIRFAX, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement blasting a ruling from U.S. district court judge Derrick Watson of the District of Hawaii that temporary travel restrictions issued against any Muslim-majority countries somehow violate the First Amendment if issued by President Donald Trump:
“This is anarchy from the bench. No man is above or below the law. Judge Derrick Watson has commandeered executive powers that were duly conferred by Congress on the president decades ago on immigration — based on his own political perceptions of campaign statements made by the Trump campaign in 2016. We are left to assume that without an such examination, not of the executive order itself, but of campaign speeches, that this same exact executive order would be deemed constitutional if issued by any other president.
“If it would be constitutional if issued by former President Obama, then it must then be constitutional under President Trump. The rule of law means equal application of the law and by the judge’s own words, that is not what we have here.
“If courts cannot apply and interpret laws, orders and regulations as written, then they should not exist. That is Congress’ purview, to create courts, or eliminate them if they do not serve their intended purpose and then just sell the building and at least help solve the debt crisis. Additionally, Congress can limit the jurisdiction of federal courts not to examine travel restrictions. It can also cut the pay of any federal employees working at the courts to $1 or just eliminate them.
“It is now clear that federal courts do not intend to hold the acts of President Trump to the same standards as other presidents past or future, instead imposing a separate body of law simply for his administration. In essence, by denying the powers of the president to Trump, the courts are attempting to render their verdict on the outcome of the 2016 election, an intolerable abuse by the judicial branch that Congress must now rein in.”
