Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/17pdf/17-965_h315.pdf
Page Number: 74

10 

TRUMP v. HAWAII 

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 

crutches!”2  IRAP II , 883 F. 3d, at 267.  Those videos were 
initially tweeted by a British political party whose mission 
is  to  oppose  “all  alien  and  destructive  politic[al]  or  reli­
gious  doctrines,  including  . . .  Islam.”    Ibid.  When  asked 
about these videos, the White House Deputy  Press Secre­
tary connected them to the Proclamation, responding that 
the  “President  has  been  talking  about  these  security  is­
sues  for  years  now,  from  the  campaign  trail  to  the  White 
House”  and  “has  addressed  these  issues  with  the  travel 
order  that  he  issued  earlier  this  year  and  the  companion
proclamation.”  Ibid. 

2 

As  the  majority  correctly  notes,  “the  issue  before  us  is 
not  whether  to  denounce”  these  offensive  statements. 
Ante,  at  29.   Rather,  the  dispositive  and  narrow  question
here is whether a reasonable observer, presented with all 
“openly available data,” the text and “historical context” of 
the  Proclamation,  and  the  “specific  sequence  of  events” 
leading  to  it,  would  conclude  that  the  primary  purpose  of
the Proclamation is to disfavor Islam and its adherents by 
excluding  them  from  the  country.    See  McCreary,  545 
U. S., at 862–863.  The answer is unquestionably yes. 

Taking  all  the  relevant  evidence  together,  a  reasonable
observer would conclude that the Proclamation was driven 
primarily  by  anti-Muslim  animus,  rather  than  by  the 

—————— 

2 The content of these videos is highly inflammatory, and their titles
are arguably misleading.  For instance, the person depicted in the video 
entitled “Muslim migrant beats up Dutch boy on crutches!” was report
edly not a “migrant,” and his religion is not publicly known.  See Brief 
for  Plaintiffs  in  International  Refugee  Assistance  Project  v.  Trump  as 
Amici  Curiae  12,  n. 4;  P.  Baker  &  E.  Sullivan,  Trump  Shares  Inflam
matory  Anti-Muslim  Videos,  and  Britain’s  Leader  Condemns  Them,
N. Y. Times, Nov. 29, 2017 (“[A]ccording to local officials, both boys are
Dutch”), 
https: // www.nytimes.com / 2017 / 11 / 29 / us / politics / trump­
anti-muslim-videos-jayda-fransen.html  (all  Internet  materials  as  last
visited June 25, 2018). 

 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
   
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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