‘You’re So Incompetent for This Job’
President Donald Trump in a rare move issued a formal statement Monday afternoon in response to the Supreme Court announcement it will take up his Muslim travel ban in the fall, and allowed portions of the ban to go into effect. Nearly everything he said was false, displaying both a total misunderstanding of how the U.S. justice system works, and what the Court did and did not say and do.
“Today’s unanimous Supreme Court decision is a clear victory for our national security,” Trump claims. “It allows the travel suspension for the six terror-prone countries and the refugee suspension to become largely effective.”
First, it was not a “unanimous Supreme Court decision.” All nine justices agreed to consolidate and review lower courts’ decisions blocking Trump’s Muslim travel ban, and allowed portions of Trump’s travel ban to go into effect in the interim. But three justices would have allowed the full ban to go into effect, so it was not unanimous, as many have pointed out.
Buzzfeed Legal Editor Chris Geidner makes it clear:
Geidner also writes at Buzzfeed: “Despite Trump’s claim of unanimity (later specifically calling it a ‘9-0’ decision), however, the court’s ruling came in a per curiam opinion — meaning for the court (and not in the name of an individual justice). No vote count was announced.”
“As President, I cannot allow people into our country who want to do us harm,” Trump claims. If that were true, why did the administration not request the Supreme Court to expedite review of the case on its merits? Because they know they will lose and they would rather play victim to the judicial system.
“I want people who can love the United States and all of its citizens, and who will be hardworking and productive.”
So loving the U.S. is now official Trump administration policy, a pre-requisite for entry.
“My number one responsibility as Commander in Chief is to keep the American people safe,” Trump’s statement continues. “Today’s ruling allows me to use an important tool for protecting our Nation’s homeland. I am also particularly gratified that the Supreme Court’s decision was 9-0.”
Again, and as Geidner notes above, not “9-0.”
But now that Trump has falsely informed the American people, they are all repeating his claims, and attacking the lower courts’ decisions, because they too don’t understand the federal court system.
“Although no justices wrote that they would have denied the stay requests, the only conclusion that can be drawn from the per curiam decision is that at least a majority of the court agreed to each portion of it,” Geidner adds.
On Twitter, many were happy to mock the president (and his sons):
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