Trump Executive Order Opposed By Brief Filed By 17 Universities, Including Northwestern

EVANSTON, IL — Northwestern University and 16 other research universities have filed an amicus brief with a New York federal court in a lawsuit opposing President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration.

The legal brief said the executive order threatens the ability to attract students, faculty and scholars to the universities by its ban on residents of seven countries (Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen).

“While the Executive Order is currently limited to seven countries, its damaging effects have already been widely felt by American Universities,” the brief said, noting that the order applies to individuals with the visas most commonly used by students, faculty and scholars.

Northwestern joined in the amicus brief to support efforts to enable students, faculty and scholars to continue to study and conduct research in the U.S., said President Morton Schapiro. “Northwestern and other universities benefit greatly by bringing outstanding individuals from all over the world to study, teach and do research here,” he said. “It is important that universities continue to be able to do so.”

Phil Harris, vice president and general counsel, said Northwestern joined the amicus brief because the University has a compelling interest in maintaining a diverse student body and a strong research effort. “International students and scholars are critically important to our mission as a global institution,” he said.

The New York lawsuit is one of several that have been filed in an effort to block enforcement of the executive order issued by President Trump last month. Enforcement currently has been delayed by a judge’s order in a lawsuit filed in Seattle that was subsequently upheld by the Ninth Circuit Appellate Court. The New York court has entered a temporary restraining order until February 21, to preserve the status quo while the parties brief the various legal issues.

Along with Northwestern, the universities joining the supporting brief are the University of Chicago, Brown University, Carnegie Mellon University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Duke University, Emory University, Harvard University, the Johns Hopkins University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Stanford University, the University of Pennsylvania, Vanderbilt University and Yale University.

Top photo: U.S. Supreme Court, Public Domain Image