Alan Dershowitz: Trump’s Executive Order Does Not Violate Establishment Clause

‘I’m shocked that the government did not make a stronger argument for that’

DERSHOWITZ: “He didn’t really focus on what the court’s concerns were. I think he could have made a much stronger argument on the whole establishment clause issue. Here you have the United States government taking the position that this is Islamic terrorism as distinguished in the prior administration. That’s their position. It’s Islamic terrorism. Why should anybody be surprised that the seven nations are nations of Islam? Consider what was one of the greatest successes in American history, the war refugee board in 1944. That was focused on specifically rescuing Jews because Jews were the victims of Nazism. And here you have a statute that’s specifically focused on rescuing minority religions. That could be Sunnis in Shia countries, it could be Kurds, it could be — this is not an establishment clause violation. And I’m shocked that the government did not make a stronger argument for that.”

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