Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen said he’s thrilled that an appeals court has unanimously rejected the Trump administration’s effort to resume a controversial executive order, barring people from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the United States.
Jepsen said it's clear that presidents have strong powers to determine who can come into the country or not, but Donald Trump’s order singles out countries where more than 90 percent of the residents are Muslim, and then carves out an exception for religious minorities.
"He sets up a standard that says: you Muslims are treated one way; other minorities are treated another," Jepsen said. "And against a backdrop where he’s consistently publicly said that he wants to favor Christian minorities, it resonates very strongly that this is discrimination on the basis of religion, which is completely -- I don’t care if you’re a right wing conservative or a left wing liberal -- discrimination on the basis of religion is completely inappropriate in America."
Jepsen and 15 other attorneys general filed an amicus brief supporting the lawsuit against the travel ban. And though it’s a complex area of the law, Jepsen said the constitution is clear on issues of discrimination, so he believes the case has a good chance if it goes to the U.S. Supreme Court.
