Washington, DC – Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, a senior member of the House Committee on Judiciary and its Subcommittee on Immigration and the Committee on Homeland Security and its Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, released the following statement in response to the unanimous ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that the President’s revised Executive Order, banning Muslims from the country is unconstitutional.

Unlike the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Ninth Circuit struck down the revised ban on Statutory Grounds. The Ninth Circuit three-judge panel unanimously decided that the President exceeded the authority granted to him by Congress in making judgements on national security in the sphere of immigration without proper justification.

“In denying the President’s request to lift the order enjoining enforcement of the President’s executive order banning Muslims from entering the United States, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals delivered another stinging rebuke to the President’s order, and made clear that religious liberty, equal protection, and due process of law are fundamental constitutional guarantees beyond the power of even a President to abridge.”

“I applaud the action of the 9th Circuit upholding the lower court’s enjoining enforcement of the President’s unconstitutional and discriminatory Travel Ban. I serve an extremely diverse district. The president’s Muslim Ban works an invidious discrimination and has hurt many people, including a 16-year-old boy from Jordan who flew to my congressional district to visit relatives but instead was detained and transferred to Chicago. There, he would spend several days in a facility until my office was able to help get him out and reunite him with loved ones.

“In light of the court’s decision today, the most sensible thing for the President to do is rescind his unconstitutional executive order that discriminates against Muslims on the basis of their religion and deprives them of due process of law and consult with the relevant congressional committees to develop a workable, practical, effective, and constitutional plan to protect the security of our homeland and the safety of our people. But attacking the legitimacy of the judicial branch, a co-equal branch of government under our Constitution, does not make us safer or freer, and is not consistent with the oath the President took to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. Furthermore, appealing to the Supreme Court is a frivolous waste of both time and resources.”