While I know there are those legal scholars that will find this ruling dangerous [source: “The 9th Circuit’s dangerous and…”], this should be seen as good stuff for everyone. First, we know Trump’s travel ban was about trying to keep out Muslims. Sure, he backed off that position, but still, let’s be plain here; President Trump said it and tried to do it through an alternative executive order. The good thing is, it didn’t work; which is good for several reasons. First, banning Muslims is bigoted and if we are not a nation that protects individual religious beliefs then all religious beliefs are at risk, including yours and mine. The bigger part of this is the fact that the court did something completely unexpected, they signaled that Trump’s words do matter! And because this was a Federal ruling it means that ALL politicians words now matter, especially those said on the campaign trail. See yet where I am going with this? A whole new precedent has been established by this ruling.
You see, both sides like to use various forms of rhetoric on the campaign trail. And occasionally uses rhetoric like when Trump talked about banning Muslims or Obama let slip his feelings about Christians “clinging to their guns and bibles.” The court has essentially ruled that expressed religious intolerance by ANY politician can be used to overturn laws, rules and orders that could be seen in support of that bigotry. This is a VERY GOOD thing for religious protections, for people of all faiths, some that so often face similar bigotries because of the positions on various issues like abortion of LGBT relationships.
Another finer point here is that we should celebrate that our system of government, with its checks and balances works. See, there was no need for all the protests across the country, except maybe to make people feel good about themselves. Unless of course the Left wants to argue that these judges were influenced by the outpour of public opinion. Of course, that would mean that we are in serious trouble because to have a judiciary so easily swayed would be incredibly dangerous.
In the end, things worked out the way they should and our nation moves forward, toward less bigotry toward religion in general; something long championed by the religious right in America. Just as there was a subtle beginning to the civil right movement, we are hopefully seeing the subtle beginnings of a movement where we all begin to recognize the danger that religious bigotry poses to all of society and, like with other forms of bigotry, we finally begin to eradicate it. It also doesn’t hurt that Trump may have just learned that his words, his tweets and like, all actually do matter and can be used against him in the future. Maybe this will eventually make him a more measured leader, less likely to react in knee-jerk fashion. Once his ego has had a chance to absorb this ruling that is. He is our elected president after all and we all need him on his best behavior.
