long time guy wrote:
You're sounding stupid. They didn't have to include Islam in the original since anyone with half a brain could infer it.
They targeted countries with predominantly Muslim populations but since they didn't include the word Muslim then they weren't targeting Muslims. Get a clue.
Ruiz-Diaz v. United States wrote:
Plaintiffs argue that CIS has treated them differently from other immigrant groups because they work for religious, rather than secular, organizations in violation of the Equal Protection Clause. Plaintiffs maintain that the Court must strictly scrutinize any law burdening the practice of religion and argue that the bar against concurrent filing is not narrowly tailored to further a compelling governmental interest. Because this case involves Congress' plenary power to control immigration and naturalization, strict scrutiny is not appropriate. Masnauskas v. Gonzales, 432 F.3d 1067, 1070-71 (9th Cir. 2005) (challenge to classification based on national origin subject to rational basis test).[4] "`Line-drawing' decisions made by Congress or the President in the context of immigration and naturalization must be upheld if they are rationally related to a legitimate government purposes." Ram v. INS, 243 F.3d 510, 517 (9th Cir.2001). Under the rational relation test, courts presume that immigration statutes and regulations are constitutional. Masnauskas, 432 F.3d at 1071. The person challenging the governmental action has the burden of negating "every conceivable basis which might support it." Heller v. Doe, 509 U.S. 312, 320, 113 S. Ct. 2637, 125 L. Ed. 2d 257 (1993). Even if the legislative *1160 ends could be better achieved through different means, courts will accept the classification as long as it is rationally related to the government's purpose. Id.
Defendants argue that, for purposes of the Equal Protection analysis, the treatment of special immigrant religious workers should be compared only to the treatment of other beneficiaries of the fourth visa preference category. Even if that were true, defendants acknowledge that some non-religious beneficiaries of the fourth preference category are allowed to file concurrently while religious workers, special immigrant physicians, Iraqi/Afghani translators, and Panama Canal workers are not. Thus, even within the fourth preference category, religious workers are treated less favorably than others within that category.
For purposes of this motion, the Court assumes that special immigrant religious workers are treated differently than other similarly-situated aliens. Nevertheless, the Court finds that the bar against concurrent filing is rationally related to the agency's purpose of deterring fraud in an area where there are virtually no objective standards for determining a religious organization's need or for evaluating whether a particular applicant is qualified to fill an available position.
Equal Protection claim on alien status are evaluated using the rational basis test, and both bans pass the rational basis test. End of story.