Sessions Jabs Hawaii Judge Who Blocked Travel Ban: ’Sitting on an Island in the Pacific’
On Tuesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions criticized a federal judge’s ruling that blocked President Donald Trump‘s executive order curtailing immigration from several Middle Eastern countries.
“I really am amazed that a judge sitting on an island in the Pacific can issue an order that stops the President of the United States from what appears to be clearly his statutory and constitutional power,” Sessions said in remarks reported by CNN.
Following CNN’s report, Hawaii senators Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz slammed their former colleague on Twitter:
Mr. Attorney General: You voted for that judge. And that island is called Oahu. It’s my home. Have some respect. https://t.co/sW9z3vqBqG
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) April 20, 2017
Hey Jeff Sessions, this #IslandinthePacific has been the 50th state for going on 58 years. And we won’t succumb to your dog whistle politics
— Senator Mazie Hirono (@maziehirono) April 20, 2017
Hawaii was built on the strength of diversity & immigrant experiences- including my own. Jeff Sessions’ comments are ignorant & dangerous
— Senator Mazie Hirono (@maziehirono) April 20, 2017
Hirono and Schatz had announced back in January 2017 that they were opposing Trump’s nomination of Sessions to be attorney general.
After the two Hawaiian senators unleashed on Sessions, a Department of Justice spokesperson released a statement on Thursday that responded to their criticism, spotlighting Sessions’ personal connection to the state:
DOJ statement on Sessions Hawaii comments https://t.co/ptCSwsa8X2 pic.twitter.com/MUPjcH33Gu
— Tal Kopan (@TalKopan) April 20, 2017
The attorney general made the supposedly “ignorant” and “dangerous” comments during a phone interview on the conservative Mark Levin Show. He summarized the litigation in the case before targeting the judge in Hawaii:
We won a case in Virginia recently that was a nicely-written order that just demolished, I thought, all the arguments that some of the other people have been making. We are confident that the President will prevail on appeal and particularly in the Supreme Court, if not the Ninth Circuit. So this is a huge matter. I really am amazed that a judge sitting on an island in the Pacific can issue an order that stops the President of the United States from what appears to be clearly his statutory and Constitutional power.
[image via screengrab]
