Liberal Democrat and Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz made it clear on Saturday during an interview with Fox News that President Donald Trump's new executive order on immigration should have been upheld, claiming that "if Obama had issued the very same order with the same words it would be constitutional."
The new order issued last week was appealed by U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang, a nominee under Barack Obama.
Dershowitz said the ruling focuses too much on President Trump's campaign rhetoric and not on the text of the order. "That's not the way the law is supposed to operate," Dershowitz said.
“The idea of focusing so heavily on campaign rhetoric and essentially saying, look, if Obama had issued the very same order with the same words it would be constitutional, but if Trump issues it, it’s unconstitutional because he said some things about Muslims in the run-up to the campaign,” he said.
However, Dershowitz did say that the Trump administration is doing its homework.
"And finally, the Trump Justice Department is getting smart. They are appealing this not to the Ninth Circuit where they are likely to get an adverse ruling. They are appealing it to the Fourth Circuit. The Fourth Circuit is a much more conservative court. And much more likely to uphold the travel ban, and then if the case goes to the Supreme Court and ties four to four, Trump wins.”
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