Washington Post: Acting Attorney General declares Justice Department won’t defend Trump’s immigration order
Acting Attorney General Sally Yates has ordered Justice Department lawyers not to defend challenges to President Trump’s immigration order temporarily banning entry into the United States for citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries and refugees from around the world, declaring in a memo Monday she is not convinced the order is lawful.
Yates wrote that, as the leader of the Justice Department, she must ensure the department’s position is both “legally defensible” and “consistent with this institution’s solemn obligation to always seek justice and stand for what is right.
“At present, I am not convinced that the defense of the Executive Order is consistent with these responsibilities nor am I convinced that the Executive Order is lawful,” Yates wrote. She wrote that “for as long as I am the Acting Attorney General, the Department of Justice will not present arguments in defense of the Executive Order, unless and until I become convinced that it is appropriate to do so.”
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Update #1: Acting Attorney General Orders Justice Dept. Not to Defend Refugee Ban (NYT)
Update #2: Acting attorney general orders DOJ not to defend Trump’s travel ban (The Hill)
Update #3: Justice head tells staff not to defend Trump refugee order (AP)
WNU Editor: This Acting Attorney General’s declaration only makes President Trump’s case on how politicised the U.S. government has become. The US Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote Tuesday on President Trump’s pick for attorney general, Sen. Jeff Sessions. I suspect that once his nomination has been approved and he is in the Justice Department, this Justice Department decision by its acting head will be quickly reversed.
