Dear All,

Earlier this year, we wrote to let you know that the Wikimedia Foundation had joined amicus briefs that supported challenges to executive orders on immigration and travel[1] to the United States.[2][3] We’re writing now with an update on these cases: the US government has petitioned the Supreme Court to review the court of appeals decisions in State of Hawaii v. Trump and International Refugee Assistance Project v. Trump. [4][5] Arguments will take place on October 10.

Last week, the Foundation was again invited to join an amicus brief to be filed in these cases. This new brief makes similar arguments to our previous filings opposing the executive order.[6] It describes how the order’s restrictions would impact the international operations of the Foundation and other signatories. It also detail legal problems with the order’s provisions and proposed implementation. The brief, which was filed today, was signed by 161 organizations.[7] We have also published a blog post with additional information.[8]

As you know, we constantly monitor legal and policy developments around the world for issues that impact the Wikimedia projects. The order’s restrictions on international travel and immigration would affect our ability to collaborate within the movement, among community members, Foundation staffers, members of our Board, and other stakeholders in the free knowledge space. Already, community conferences for our movement are experiencing difficulties in obtaining visas for some volunteers and further restrictions would endanger our work towards participatory and free knowledge for everyone. We will continue to monitor the outcome of these cases, and related developments.

Best,

Jan

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_order_(United_States)

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

[3] https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/03/15/amicus-brief-us-travel-restrictions/

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_13780#Hawaii_v._Trump

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Int%27l_Refugee_Assistance_Project_v._Trump

[6]

https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/File:Amicus_brief_of_tech_companies_%26...

[7] https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/File:Trump_v._IRAP_Amicus_Brief_Filed_9...

[8] https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/09/18/amicus-brief-us-travel-immigration/

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Jan Gerlach Public Policy Manager Wikimedia Foundation 149 New Montgomery Street, 6th Floor San Francisco, CA 94105 jgerlach@wikimedia.org