Expert: Circuit Shopping May Guide Trump's Travel Ban Litigation Strategy

Matt Zapotosky, Washington Post, Mar. 23, 2017 - "The speed with which the administration moved was befitting of the national security crisis the ban purported to address. The administration ultimately lost in court, and since then, it has slowed the pace considerably, putting off a rewrite of the executive order several times and now proceeding more gradually as it fights court-imposed suspensions of the new ban. Legal analysts and opponents say the Justice Department is likely pursuing a more methodical, strategic approach in hopes of a long-term victory — although in the process, the administration is hurting its case that the order is needed for urgent national security. ... There could be strategic reasons for pumping the brakes. Stephen W. Yale-Loehr, a professor of immigration law at Cornell Law School, said the Justice Department might be hoping for a favorable ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, of which Maryland is a part, before they bring a case before the 9th Circuit, of which Hawaii is a part. A three-judge panel in the 9th Circuit unanimously rejected the administration’s bid to restore Trump’s first entry ban after it was frozen."