President Trump issued an executive order calling for heightened vetting of certain foreign nationals seeking entry into the U.S. The order temporarily suspends entry by nationals of seven Muslim-majority danger zones.
The U.S. Constitution vests the executive power in the president in regards to transaction of business with foreign nations. Congressional legislation and Supreme Court precedent gives executive authority. Section 1182 of Title 8, U.S. Code states: "The President by proclamation…as he shall deem necessary, shall have the authority to suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens."
President Trumps executive order has been temporarily blocked by an activist Federal district Judge James Robart of Washington state, who second-guessed the president on the wisdom and propriety of the president's executive order. Activists on the liberal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals are expected to deny the DOJ appeal. Their ruling will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is now split four to four. A tie decision would send the case back to the 9th District to confirm its decision. President Trump's temporary halt to immigration from seven countries will probably die in the courts.
By April or May it is expected Neil Gorsuch will be seated on the U.S. Supreme Court. During the next four years President Trump is expected to pack the court with strict constructionist judges on Federal Benches and the Supreme Court. In time he will prevail in restricting unvetted immigrants from seven unstable Middle East countries. This is not a legal or political battle it is a clash of worldviews or between moral absolutes and a postmodern worldview which rejects absolutes. President Trump may loose some near term legal battles, but in the long term he will prevail.
Steve Johnston, B.S., M. Div., J.D.
