Akin Gump Provides Pro Bono Support to Korematsu Center in State of Hawai`i v. Trump, the First Legal Challenge to the Trump Administration’s March 6 Executive Order
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(New York) – Akin Gump serves as pro bono counsel to the Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality on an amicus brief filed before the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii in State of Hawai`i and Ismail Elshikh v. Trump et al. The brief backs a legal challenge to the Trump administration’s March 6 Executive Order 13780, “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States.” Eleven nonprofit advocacy groups, including civil rights groups and national bar associations of color, joined the brief, along with the children of litigants in the Japanese relocation and incarceration cases from World War II. Oral arguments are scheduled for March 15.
In their brief, the Korematsu Center and joining amici assert that courts can and should review executive branch actions on immigration. The plaintiffs argue that the executive order violates the 1st and 5th Amendments, the Immigration and Nationality Act, the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act and the Administrative Procedure Act.
Akin Gump’s Pratik Shah, who co-heads the firm’s Supreme Court and appellate practice, stated, “Our brief strives to provide historical context—known all too well to the Korematsu Center and other amici—to ensure that the court does not rubber stamp the government’s invocation of national security when it comes to the profoundly important questions at issue.”
Corporate partner Alice Hsu led the Akin Gump team on behalf of the amici. She was joined by litigation partners Pratik Shah and Robert Johnson, and litigation senior counsel Jessica Weisel. Additional team members included litigation associates Sofie Syed, Elizabeth Rosen and Daniella Roseman; litigation counsel Martine Cicconi (licensed to practice in California only and under the direct supervision of a partner of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP who is an enrolled, active member of the District of Columbia Bar; applicant for admission to the D.C. Bar); corporate law clerk Elizabeth Atkins; and investment management law clerk William Meehan.
To read the brief in full, please click here.
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