Press Release  AG Healey Joins Coalition of 16 Attorneys General Supporting Hawaii’s Travel Ban Litigation

Boston — Today, Attorney General Maura Healey joined a coalition of 16 attorneys general in filing a new amicus brief in support of Hawaii’s travel ban litigation.

The amicus brief, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, opposes the Trump administration’s appeal of the district court decision that the ban should not prevent grandparents and other close relatives of United States residents from entering the country.

“Only the Trump administration would argue in federal court that ‘close family’ excludes grandparents. We filed this amicus brief in defense of common sense and families in our state,” AG Healey said.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court held that nationwide injunctions entered against the travel ban by two courts should remain in place with respect to persons having a “bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States,” including persons having a “close familial relationship” to a United States resident.

Last month, the plaintiffs in the case of State of Hawaii and Ismail Elshikh v. Donald Trump, et al. filed a motion seeking, among other things, to enforce the district court’s preliminary injunction, supported by an amicus brief led by the same coalition of attorneys general, who argued that the Trump administration too narrowly interpreted “close familial relationship.” The district court partly granted the plaintiffs’ motion, interpreting the term “close familial relationship” to include grandparents and other close relatives beyond the nuclear family.

The federal government then sought a stay of that ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, and AG Healey joined a coalition in filing an amicus brief opposing the Trump administration’s application. The Court left standing the district court’s ruling with respect to including grandparents and others as a “close familial relationship.”

AG Healey previously filed suit against President Trump’s first travel ban in January and his revised travel ban in March.

The brief was filed by a total of 16 attorneys general, including those of New York, Massachusetts, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Colombia.

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