Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota expressed anger and disgust on CNN’s “At This Hour” Tuesday, after it was announced the Supreme Court upheld President Donald Trump’s travel ban by a vote of 5-4.
“As long as [Trump] puts a very thin veneer of national security on top of all that discrimination and racism, they will buy it,” Ellison told host Kate Bolduan. “As long as the pig has some lipstick on it, it’s fine. And that is what they have said. All I can say is that the people who believe in dignity of all people, who believe in freedom of faith and freedom of religion in America, we’re not going to stop fighting. In fact this will enliven us.”
“It just proves one thing, if you steal and rip off a Supreme Court justice, then you can try to jam any kind of nasty racist ugly policy you can down the throats of the American people,” he added. (RELATED: Supreme Court Deals Victory For Trump, Upholds Travel Ban)
Ellison is the first ever Muslim elected to the U.S. Congress and predicted the decision will ultimately be viewed as a stain on the country.
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“Our country has gone through some ugly days,” he said. “I mean, the Supreme Court in the 1850s said it was okay to own a black person. That’s the Dred Scott decision. That decision hit the dustbin of history. So did Plessy vs. Ferguson. So did Korematsu and this one will too.”
Bolduan said the court held the president has the authority to make these decisions, but Ellison disagreed and called Trump’s practices discriminatory.
“It is not within the president’s authority to discriminate on the basis of religion. It simply isn’t,” Ellison said. “The fact that he slapped a few language — pieces of language on there and threw in a few other countries as an afterthought doesn’t correct the fundamental and original flaw.”
“He wanted a complete and total ban on Muslim entry into the country. He reaffirmed that position multiple times,” Ellison concluded.
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