I’ve heard that one of the reasons President Trump’s travel ban was struck down by judges in the 9th circuit court of appeals is because of what he said during his campaign for President about a Muslim ban. Even though his executive order does not use these words, the court has decided that this is what he really means, and therefore, the order is unconstitutional. If judging a law’s morality is based on someone’s written or spoken words made prior to its final version being created, the Declaration of Independence would not have been passed.

Thomas Jefferson originally had language that condemned slavery in the Declaration, but he took it out because the southern colonies of the Continental Congress would not have voted for it otherwise (1). But, they could have still decided, like the 9th circuit, to vote against the Declaration on grounds that Jefferson condemned slavery beforehand or that he still wanted to in his heart.

Fortunately, this did not happen because passing the Declaration was important to begin the efforts to break away from British rule and eventually outlaw slavery.

Also, before Abraham Lincoln issued the emancipation proclamation and before the 13th amendment passed to outlaw slavery, he had considered sending freed slaves to live in Africa(2). This was not a requirement in his proclamation or the amendment, but congressmen could have voted against it because of Lincoln’s prior thoughts of sending those freed out of the country.

These examples from history show that we have to consider whether the bill or executive order is lawful or constitutional based on the words in the document as apposed to statements made outside of what’s written or what one thinks somebody’s motive is. Trump’s order is not a muslin ban. All people, regardless of religion or any other factor, would be temporarily prevented from entering the country until authorities can find a way to screen out people who would want to do harm to Americans. Right now, these countries are considered failed states where their governments do not have records of peoples’ backgrounds so that terrorists can be found before entry. Look, we all do this. We only want people to come into our homes that we know or that we can somehow check out so we can feel safe. Most of us lock our doors, don’t we?

1-Check out page 63 of “The 10 Big Lies about America” by Michael Medved

2-Check out page 68 of the above. By the way, even in the midst of slavery, most freed slaves did not want to move to Africa.