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WASHINGTON — The state of Washington will continue its lawsuit against the Trump administration, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced on Thursday, asserting that the prior injunction issued against the January executive order applies to major portions of the new order President Trump signed on Monday.
Ferguson said he continues to believe that “what the president is doing is unconstitutional” at a news conference on Thursday.
The attorney general said that the state will be “seeking to confirm” from US District Judge James Robart that the injunction he issued against the initial executive order remains in place.
Robart's order halted enforcement of major portions of Trump's Jan. 27 executive order, commonly referred to as the travel and refugee ban.
Colleen Melody, the chief of the Washington office's civil rights division, specified that the state would be seeking to confirm that the February order from Robart continues to bar implementation of “provisions that have been re-implemented in the new order.” Specifically, she noted, two provisions contained in the original executive order that are in the new executive order were among the provisions that had been a part of the initial temporary restraining order that Robart issued.
In addition to Minnesota, which previously joined the litigation, Ferguson also announced Thursday that attorneys general from Oregon and New York would be seeking to join the Washington-state-led effort.
Asked why he believes Washington's lawsuit needs to continue in light of the fact that other litigation — including the restraining order being sought by Hawaii against the new ban — exists now, Ferguson said, “[W]hat we're asserting is, we've already got one, it's already in place.”
“The bottom line is that there still are a number of people in Washington who are harmed,” Washington Solicitor General Noah Purcell said, regarding questions about whether the state continues to have legal standing to sue.
The state will seek its confirmation that the original injunction applies to the new order, Purcell said, in a response to the notice submitted by the Justice Department earlier this week regarding the issuance of the new executive order.
Ferguson dodged when asked if he would seek a contempt order if the Trump administration attempts to enforce the new order without permission from Robart.
“We're intensely focused on what's right before us,” Ferguson said, noting that his lawyers were still working on Thursday's planned filing and adding that the state will be filing an amended complaint next week to address the changes in the new order.
“We've won in court, and the president has had to honor those defeats,” Ferguson said, returning to his repeated statements that the case is about the rule of law. “You cannot tweet your way out of it.”
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