Monday, February 13, 2017

Just Read This Memorandum Opinion -- Top To Bottom


More good news for believers in our system of ordered liberty -- in Alexandria, Virginia tonight -- in Judge Brinkema's US District (trial level) courtroom, the following very cogent 22 page opinion (and a related order) was entered, against Mr. Trump's would-be Muslim Ban.

It is a preliminary injunction -- and so now there are. . . two. Now you know. Nothing more really need be said, though I think 45 is likely to appeal.

This is an early Valentine's present to all who believe in our First Amendment's Free Exercise Clause. In view of this opinion, Mr. Trump's appeals won't ultimately matter -- his whole initiative here. . . is now a dead letter.

नमस्ते

1 comment:

Condor said...

I could not make this unconstitutional degrading nonsense up -- if I tried:

...Bikkannavar is a seasoned international traveler — but his return home to the US this time around was anything but routine. Bikkannavar left for South America on January 15th, under the Obama administration. He flew back from Santiago, Chile to the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas on Monday, January 30th, just over a week into the Trump administration.

"He was detained by Customs and pressured to give up his phone and access PIN"

Bikkannavar says he was detained by US Customs and Border Patrol and pressured to give the CBP agents his phone and access PIN. Since the phone was issued by NASA, it may have contained sensitive material that wasn’t supposed to be shared....

Homeland Security secretary John Kelly said that people visiting the United States may be asked to give up passwords to their social media accounts. "We want to get on their social media, with passwords: What do you do, what do you say?" Kelly told the House Homeland Security Committee. "If they don't want to cooperate then you don't come in...."

Seemingly, Bikkannavar’s reentry into the country should not have raised any flags. Not only is he a natural-born US citizen, but he’s also enrolled in Global Entry — a program through CBP that allows individuals who have undergone background checks to have expedited entry into the country. He hasn’t visited the countries listed in the immigration ban and he has worked at JPL — a major center at a US federal agency — for 10 years. There, he works on “wavefront sensing and control,” a type of optics technology that will be used on the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope....


This scientist is a US CITIZEN. And he's a trusted traveller. The request for a PIN clearly violated his 4th Amendment and 5th Amendment rights.

He has a very good claim -- if he wants to sue. But who stole my system of ordered liberty?

Damn...