​Oregon will also separately ask Washington Trial Court to Join Washington State’s Lawsuit

Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum today announced that Oregon has signed on with 15 other states to an amicus (friend of the court) brief in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in support of Washington in their federal lawsuit against the Trump Administration’s executive order on immigration.

A temporary Restraining Order (TRO) was issued by a Washington state federal judge last week ordering a nationwide halt to implementation of the President’s Executive Order on immigration. The court is expected to decide in the next few days whether to uphold the trial court’s ruling after the federal government appealed. 

“If the appellate court upholds the TRO, which we hope it will, it is likely to send it back to the trial court in Washington state for further proceedings,” Attorney General Rosenblum said. “We want to be ready to help in any way we can to establish the permanent illegality of the Executive Order.”

In addition to joining the amicus brief, Oregon is in close coordination with the Washington Attorney General, and will jointly ask the Washington judge to allow an amendment to add Oregon to the lawsuit—possibly as soon as Tuesday. The Washington complaint alleges that the President’s Executive Order on Immigration is unconstitutional on multiple grounds, including religious and national origin discrimination.

“I am pleased that Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson has invited us to join their lawsuit against the federal government. By joining Washington, we will be able to share legal resources with our neighboring state and at the same time ensure that the voices of Oregonians harmed by the President’s executive order are heard,” said AG Rosenblum.

In today’s amicus brief, Oregon and the other states outline the harm that the Executive Order has caused residents, and outlines that the states have standing to challenge the immigration executive order because of the harm the order inflicts on the states themselves. The amicus brief is signed by Attorneys General from California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia.

A copy of the amicus brief can be found here.

Contact:

Kristina Edmunson, Department of Justice, Kristina.Edmunson@doj.state.or.us, 503-378-6002