SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Dori: SCOTUS travel ban decision a smack-down for Bob Ferguson

Jun 26, 2018, 8:03 PM | Updated: Jun 27, 2018, 10:22 am

Bob Ferguson, 3-d printed guns, lawsuits capital gains tax...

Attorney General Bob Ferguson, left, speaks as Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, center, and Solicitor General Noah Purcell look on. (AP file Photo/Elaine Thompson)

(AP file Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Isn’t it a wild coincidence that the day the United States Supreme Court delivered quite the smack-down to Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson is the first time in months he can’t find a microphone? He is apparently off on a family camping trip and is unavailable for comment.

For months now, Ferguson has been bragging about the five, 10, 27 lawsuits that he has filed against the Trump administration. The latest one is getting national attention. It was a lawsuit filed by Hawaii against the Trump administration over the 2016 travel ban.

As you know, President Trump promised during the campaign to work on national security. And so, he took several countries — countries that had been identified by the Obama administration as the prime sponsor nations of terrorism — and decided to do more extensive vetting before allowing people from these nations into this country. The countries currently on the ban list are Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, North Korea, and Venezuela.

RELATED: ‘Defending’ immigrant children all about politics

So Ferguson and Gov. Jay Inslee need attention. Jay Inslee wants to run for president in 2020 and Ferguson wants to be governor. They claimed this was an unconstitutional “Muslim ban.” (Although some of the most populous Muslim nations, such as Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, were not on the list.) They went to the most overturned court in the country, the radically leftist Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The court used the things that Trump said on the campaign trail — where there is always an awful lot of hyperbole by every candidate — as a reason to strike down the travel ban.

It went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which, on Tuesday, upheld the travel ban as constitutional (5-4). I had talked to legal experts on the show who told me that Ferguson didn’t stand a chance, and further said that it is a bizarre decision to take words that a candidate said on the campaign trail and use them to strike down a travel ban months later.

Inslee is whining and crying about this, blasting it as racist. He called the Supreme Court’s decision “abhorrent” and said the justices are “turning a blind eye” to “our country’s constitutional protection against discrimination.”

It’s obvious that Donald Trump has prevailed over the grandstanding of Bob Ferguson’s 27 lawsuits. I think it’s good news that the President of the United States is able to heighten vetting of people who come to the United States from the world’s primary terrorism-sponsoring countries. That’s a victory by the U.S. Supreme Court.

President Donald Trump gestures as he boards Air Force One at Morristown Airport, Sunday, Aug. 16, ...

Associated Press

Trump orders Pentagon to scale back joint exercises with South Korea

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday ordered the Pentagon to scale back joint exercises with South Korea after he says it declined to help denuclearize Iran. The announcement comes just before one of two large-scale joint annual exercises are set to begin this week between South Korean and U.S. troops. It also comes […]

4 hours ago

The Wahweap Marina floats on Lake Powell at the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Wednesday, Ju...

Associated Press

Lake Powell hits record low, threatening key water and electricity supply for millions

The water level at Lake Powell, the United States’ second-largest reservoir, has fallen to a record low, heightening concerns about the ongoing crisis in the Colorado River system. The alarming milestone at Lake Powell, reached Saturday, comes about a week after the river’s other major reservoir, Lake Mead, also hit a historic low. Plummeting water […]

5 hours ago

Associated Press

Police looking for additional people who fired guns in Virginia university shooting that wounded 5

ETTRICK, Va. (AP) — Authorities were seeking additional people who fired weapons during a shooting at Virginia State University that left five people wounded, police said Sunday, as a 19-year-old suspect remained in custody and investigators sought to unravel what happened. Investigators were trying to determine what led to Saturday’s shooting and if the others […]

7 hours ago

Associated Press

At least 6 people have died from days of storms and record-setting flooding in Indiana

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (AP) — Days of storms and flooding in Indiana left at least six people dead as floodwaters peaked in Indianapolis’ White River and rains were expected to ease in the state capital region and other parts of the state Sunday. A 4-year-old boy, two men and three women were among those who had […]

10 hours ago

hit-and-run mukilteo father of 7...

KIRO 7 News Staff

Suspect in Mukilteo hit-and-run that killed father of 7 turns himself in

The man accused of hitting and killing a motorcyclist before leaving the scene has turned himself in, according to Washington State Patrol (WSP).

11 hours ago

Associated Press

1 killed, 4 injured in shooting at park in Kentucky

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Police in Kentucky said one person was killed and four others were injured in a shooting at a park Saturday evening. Lexington police officers responded just before 7 p.m. to a report of shots fired and found five victims, according to a department statement. One person was declared dead at a […]

11 hours ago

Dori: SCOTUS travel ban decision a smack-down for Bob Ferguson