WASHINGTON (AP) – The legal fight over President Donald Trump’s ban on certain refugees is likely to turn on questions of a president’s authority to control America’s borders and whether this policy unconstitutionally discriminates against Muslims.
Civil liberties advocates immediately challenged the order, launching what is sure to be a long legal fight.
Trump issued the order Friday. It temporarily halts immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations and suspends the United States’ refugee program.
Legal experts are divided as to whether courts will find Trump’s action constitutional. The Council on American-Islamic Relations sued Monday, saying the order violates the First Amendment’s bar of preferential treatment for a religion, by appearing to favor Christian over Muslim refugees.
But federal law gives the president broad power to restrict entry, particularly for national security concerns.