Duke and 30 other universities have filed a friend-of-the-court amicus curiae brief with a federal court hearing a challenge to President Donald Trump’s March 6 executive order suspending the entry into the United States of nationals from six Muslim-majority countries.
The brief filed with the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit argues that the universities are “already feeling its damaging effects.”
“The Order threatens amici’s ability to attract the best students, faculty, staff, and scholars from around the world, and thus directly affects amici’s ability to pursue their missions. Amici are experiencing the Order’s costs absent any evidence that all or even an appreciable number of nationals from these six countries—all of whom already undergo significant vetting by the government before being permitted to study or work here— pose any threat to the safety or security of the United States or amici’s campuses.”
The plaintiffs in the case, who are being supported in the schools’ brief, include the International Refugee Assistance Project. They are appealing a lower court ruling upholding the Trump administration’s executive order.
Read the brief here.