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_Proclamation_9645

[2] https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/02/06/amicus-brief-immigration-travel-restrictions/

[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-brief.PDF

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