SAN ANTONIO – President Trump telling reporters on Air Force One on Friday that “it very well could be” that he will issue a new executive order as early as Monday should come as no surprise to Michael Ariens, a constitutional law expert at the St. Mary’s School of Law.
Ariens made a similar suggestion in an interview before the president spoke about it Friday afternoon.
“The government should consider rewriting the executive order,” Ariens said.
The original order had affected travel from seven majority-Muslim nations.
Ariens said it should make clear “which types of persons they’re really hoping to prevent coming to the United States.” He said it would be “a narrower order.”
The president did not give any specifics, but the White House maintains a new executive order is among several options under consideration.
From Ariens' perspective, one of them could be the entire 9th Circuit Court of Appeals taking up the Washington State lawsuit..
“That will take a long time. Probably over a year,” he said.
Ariens also said he guesses that the Trump administration won’t take the case before the U.S. Supreme Court at this point.
Ariens said that's becuase that temporary restraining order handed down a week ago is a procedural matter.
“That’s generally not something the Supreme Court gets involved in," he said.
Ariens said the high court could take it on if other lawsuits bubble up and there’s no agreement among the lower courts.
If the travel ban does reach the Supreme Court before federal appellate Judge Neil Gorsuch is confirmed, Ariens said if the justices are split 4-4, “Whatever the court of appeals decided remains in effect.”
Ariens said it’s also possible the high court could wait until the vacancy is filled. His message to the refugees affected by the travel ban being temporarily lifted: “I would say it’s not likely that anything will change within a year. Beyond that, I don’t know.”