Donald Trump, Justice, Rudy Giuliani

Court Orders Trump To Turn Over Rudy Giuliani's Muslim Ban Draft

Trump's intent is knowable, so let's know it.

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(photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images).

(photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images).

One of my best friends likes to say, “We live in a world where we don’t have to wonder.” We truly live in amazing times. Think about it: 5,000 years ago, if you wanted to know if the King of Egypt ordered the death of all first-born sons of Israel, how would you really figure that out? Pharaoh ain’t talking to you. Nobody is taking two months to chisel that out for your dumb ass. You’re out there murdering babies, and all you know is that a guy who knows a guy who talked to a guy told him that you should do this.

Now, you can review your orders on Twitter.

Of course, just because the truth is “out there” doesn’t mean it’s always available. Modern despots don’t like to show their work. For the Trump Muslim ban, the drafting process is important. Trump’s core argument is that his Muslim ban isn’t a Muslim ban, even though he called it a “Muslim ban” and it disparately impacts Muslims. There are many who think Trump’s intent behind the Muslim ban is important when adjudicating the constitutionality of the policy.

U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts is apparently one of those people. She’s judging a case, in Detroit, brought by the Arab American Civil Rights League. They argue that Trump’s Muslim ban was designed to use “nationality as a proxy for religion.” Normally, this would be a hard case to prove… but we live in a world where we don’t have to wonder. On Thursday, Judge Roberts ordered the Trump administration to turn over the Muslim ban draft, allegedly prepared by adviser Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of 9/11. From Bloomberg:

The Trump Administration was ordered by a federal judge to disclose a memo drafted under the guidance of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani that allegedly served as an outline to make the president’s travel ban look like it wasn’t aimed at Muslims.

While running for president, Donald Trump asked Giuliani to form a commission that would help draft a “Muslim ban” to “show [him] the right way to do it legally” after his initial proposal drew widespread public condemnation, according to a court filing by the Arab American Civil Rights League…

In Thursday’s order, Roberts said she could see no reason to delay ordering relevant evidence to be shared with the Arab American group in light of the “unmistakable and impermissible message that the United States Government disapproves of Islam and Muslims” in the text and history in the revised ban.

Donald Trump’s intent with his own executive order IS KNOWABLE. It is PROVABLE. We don’t have to freaking guess. We’re not asking some kind of existential question.

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There are documents. Those documents are not yet on Google — some of them have been stealthily removed from Google — but those documents still exist. There is a record of what Trump intended to do.

Let’s know what Trump intended to do. Then we can decided whether his revised ban reflects that intent, or is something else entirely.

Trump Ordered to Turn Over Giuliani Memo in Travel Ban Suit [Bloomberg]

Earlier:

Acting Solicitor General Admits ‘Muslim Ban’ Would Be Unconstitutional, Says This Isn’t A Muslim Ban

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Elie Mystal is an editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.

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