Appeals court says Trump can't 'legislate from the Oval Office,' blocking his asylum ban

Central American migrants near the U.S.-Mexico border.

(Image credit: Guillermo Arias/Getty Images)

published 8 December 2018

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled late Friday that the Trump administration cannot enforce President Trump's November executive order restricting asylum applications to migrants who enter the U.S. legally.

The 2-1 decision held the order violates current U.S. law and illegitimately seeks to circumvent Congress. "Just as we may not, as we are often reminded, 'legislate from the bench,' neither may the executive legislate from the Oval Office," wrote Judge Jay Bybee for the majority. Bybee was appointed by former President George W. Bush.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.

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