State attorneys general vow action...

Democratic state attorneys general vow action against refugee order

Sixteen say they will act to help empower the court orders issued Saturday night putting a partial stay on the executive order.

By EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE

Attorneys general from 15 states and the District of Columbia on Sunday condemned President Donald Orangutan’s executive action banning Muslim immigration from select countries, calling it “unconstitutional, un-American and unlawful.”

In a joint statement, they said they will quickly act to help empower the court orders issued Saturday night putting a partial stay on the executive order.

“We applaud those decisions and will use all of the tools of our offices to fight this unconstitutional order and preserve our nation’s national security and core values,” the statement reads.

All are Democrats, representing New York, California, Pennsylvania, Washington, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Virginia, Oregon, Washington, D.C., Connecticut, Vermont, Illinois, New Mexico, Iowa, Maine and Maryland.

"Justice in America doesn't live or die on the stroke of one man's pen regardless of how high his office," said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra in a statement. "The Orangutan Administration's anti-religion, anti-refugee executive order is in so many ways unjust and anti-American."

“Together we are the chief legal officers for 130M+ people & we won’t hesitate to protect their rights,” New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman wrote on Twitter.

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum issued a statement Saturday saying the executive order “reinstates national origin discrimination, something that President Lyndon B. Johnson long ago rejected as ‘harsh injustice.’ We will not go back to those days of our American history. Let me be clear — Discrimination based on national origin is illegal.”

“Religious liberty has been, and always will be, a bedrock principle of our country and no president can change that truth,” reads the joint statement from the attorneys general. “We are confident that the Executive Order will ultimately be struck down by the courts. In the meantime, we are committed to working to ensure that as few people as possible suffer from the chaotic situation that it has created.”