In an astonishing ruling issued on February 3, 2017, George W. Bush appointee James Robart stayed President Trump’s order temporarily suspending nationwide the admission of persons from seven listed countries, including Iran. Judge Robart in so ruling engaged in a fact finding spree that was not in the record nor is it supported by publicly available news sources.
“I have to determine whether the executive order is rationally based…grounded in facts as opposed to fiction.”
Judge Robart erroneously asserted that no foreign nationals on the list of nations, including Iran, have been arrested within the borders of the United States. This is why judges should not second guess the foreign policy issues behind executive orders. Iran is on the list for a reason. Two Revolutionary Guard members tried to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the US in Washington DC using explosives, an event which if it was not detected might have resulted in the maiming and deaths of innocent American bystanders. The judge said zero Iranians have been arrested in the US since 9/11. He was wrong. These two Iranian citizens were …arrested in New York and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
As if that isn’t enough, the present government of Iran has been directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans since 1979, the year in which Iran’s undeclared war against the United States began. I will name only a few: US Embassy Bombing, Beruit, April 18, 1983; Bombing of US Marine Corps Baracks in Beruit, Lebanon, October 23, 1983; Torture and Murder of Beruit CIA Station Chief William F. Buckley, June 3, 1985; Torture and Murder of US Navy SEAL Robert Stethem, Beruit, June 15, 1985; Torture and Murder of US Marine Corps Col. William Higgins, Lebanon, July 16, 1990; Khobar Tower Bombing, June 25, 1996; Attack on US Forces in Karbala, Iraq planned by Iranian Revolutionary Guard leader Major General Qasem Soleimani, January 20, 2007; and numerous American troops wounded and killed by Revolutionary Guard supplied explosively formed penetrator IEDs as ordered by Soleimani.
I personally thought this order was poorly written and issued without much forethought of the consequences of making a pubic announcement on a Friday night and stranding travelers. That being said, we can’t have judges engaging in unwarranted fact finding sprees that don’t comport with the truth.
