Case 1:17-cv-00120-AJT-IDD Document 46 Filed 11/06/17 Page 1 of 4 PageID# 1000 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA LINDA SARSOUR, et al.; ) ) Plaintiffs, ) Case No. 17-cv-00120 ) Hon. Anthony J. Trenga v. ) ) DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United ) States of America; in his official capacity, et al.; ) ) Defendants. ) _____________________________________________________________________________/ Plaintiffs’ Response to the Court’s October 25th Order The plaintiffs, by and through their undersigned counsel, hereby submit the following response to the Court’s October 25th Order. For the reasons identified below, Plaintiffs urge this Court to maintain the stay it previously granted while appellate litigation, including a consolidated set of three cases which will be argued before the Fourth Circuit en banc on December 8, 2017, gets resolved. In the event that this Court does not maintain the stay, the plaintiffs1 request 45 days to amend their complaint to reflect the expiration of EO-2 and the issuance of the Proclamation. 1. This case began on January 30, 2017 as a challenge to President Trump’s January 27th executive order (“EO-1”). Shortly after plaintiffs filed the case, several courts enjoined much of President Trump’s EO-1 and indicated that he intended to rescind EO-1 and issue a new executive order. 1 Because many of the plaintiffs in this case have relatives in countries affected by the Proclamation, many of the Sarsour plaintiffs will have the same type of standing the Fourth Circuit found sufficient in IRAP. Some of those allegations are already present in the complaint, but in the event that this Court does not maintain the stay, would be supplemented in a Second Amended Complaint if this Court were to grant the plaintiffs leave to file it. 1 Case 1:17-cv-00120-AJT-IDD Document 46 Filed 11/06/17 Page 2 of 4 PageID# 1001 2. On March 6, 2017, President Trump issued a superseding executive order (“EO-2”), which revoked EO-1 but replicated many of the objectionable provisions the plaintiffs initially challenged. On March 13, 2017, Plaintiffs amended their complaint to reflect these developments, aiming their legal challenge at EO-2 rather than EO-1, which by then President Trump had rescinded. 3. Subsequent to this Court’s decision on March 24, 2017 denying the plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary relief, the defendants filed a consent motion to stay district court proceedings in Sarsour “pending the outcome” of the appeal in IRAP. The defendants explained that “[f]urther proceedings in this Court are likely to be shaped by the Fourth Circuit’s consideration of the legal issues presented in IRAP.” 4. On September 24, 2017, President Trump issued a Proclamation that, while concocting a new rationale, largely replicates the same legal issues that gave rise to this action in the first place. This Proclamation has been enjoined by district courts in Hawaii and in Maryland, and the defendants in this matter have appealed those injunctions to the Fourth and Ninth Circuits. The resolution of those appeals, particularly the Fourth Circuit proceedings, will have a bearing on the resolution of Sarsour. Additionally, the Fourth Circuit is processing IRAP2 on an expedited basis, so the stay may not have to remain for too much longer in order for these proceedings to benefit from the Fourth Circuit’s en banc ruling. 2 The Fourth Circuit consolidated two additional cases with IRAP, all of which—in similar ways—challenge the legality of the Proclamation on constitutional and statutory grounds similar to those made in Sarsour against EO-2. 2 Case 1:17-cv-00120-AJT-IDD Document 46 Filed 11/06/17 Page 3 of 4 PageID# 1002 5. For these reasons, this Court should maintain the stay in this case. In the alternative, if this Court does not maintain the stay, the plaintiffs request that they be given 45 days to amend their complaint. Respectfully submitted, s/ Gadeir Abbas Gadeir I. Abbas (VA: 81161)* COUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS 453 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20003 Phone: (202) 488-8787 Email: gabbas@cair.com Attorney for Plaintiffs *licensed in VA; not in DC practice limited to federal matters s/ Lena F. Masri Lena F. Masri COUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS 453 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20003 Phone: (202) 488-8787 Email: lmasri@cair.com 3 Case 1:17-cv-00120-AJT-IDD Document 46 Filed 11/06/17 Page 4 of 4 PageID# 1003 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that on November 6, 2017, I electronically filed the foregoing document with the Clerk of the Court, which will send notification to the registered participants of the ECF System as listed on the Court’s Notice of Electronic Filing. s/ Gadeir Abbas Gadeir I. Abbas (VA: 81161) COUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS 453 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20003 Phone: (202) 488-8787 Email: gabbas@cair.com Attorney for Plaintiffs 4