Hello All,
Last week the Wikimedia Foundation joined over 110 other companies and
organizations and signed onto an amicus brief before the Supreme Court of
the United States, opposing restrictions on immigration and travel to the
United States.[1] The Wikimedia Foundation has previously signed amicus
briefs addressing this issue [2][3][4], which will now be reviewed by The
United States Supreme Court in the case of Trump v. Hawaii, on appeal from
the Ninth Circuit.
This case arises from Presidential Proclamation 9645 and previously issued
executive orders [6] that limit incoming travel to the United States from
certain countries. Like previous amicus briefs we have signed regarding
this issue, the brief [7] explains how these restrictions will impact the
international operations of the Foundation and other signatories.
Additionally, it argues that there are legal problems with the restrictions
and their implementation.
As an organization that is part of an international movement, with
community members around the globe, the ability to travel and share
information is vital to advancing our mission. The strength of the
Wikimedia movement comes from our ability to coordinate and cooperate
across borders to share knowledge worldwide. We believe this proclamation
goes directly against the fundamentals of the global free knowledge
movement.
The Foundation stands with the members of our global communities,
regardless of location or origin. We continue to monitor legal and policy
developments that could impact the projects, the Foundation and our ability
to support the communities. We will track this case as it moves forward to
the United States Supreme Court, and will keep you posted on future
developments.
Best,
Jan
[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_13780#Presidential_Proclamati…
[2]
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/02/06/amicus-brief-immigration-travel-restr…
[3]
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/03/15/amicus-brief-us-travel-restrictions/
[4]
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/09/18/amicus-brief-us-travel-immigration/
[5]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_order_(United_States)
[7]
https://www.mayerbrown.com/files/uploads/Documents/US-companies-amicus-brie…
==
Jan Gerlach
Public Policy Manager
Wikimedia Foundation
1 New Montgomery Street, Suite 1600
San Francisco, CA 94104
jgerlach(a)wikimedia.org
@pd_w <https://twitter.com/pd_w>
@wikimediapolicy <https://twitter.com/wikimediapolicy>