Radio Recap: BREAKING NEWS: Federal Judge Halts California’s Unconstitutional Power-Grab

A federal judge has halted California’s unconstitutional power-grab involving requirements to be on the ballot for President of the United States.

On today’s Jay Sekulow Live, we discussed breaking news out of the State of California.

You may remember that last month President Trump’s legal team, of which my dad Jay Sekulow is the lead attorney, sued California over an unconstitutional law that required a candidate to release up to five years of their tax returns if they wanted to appear on the state’s primary ballot in March of 2020.

This unconstitutional state law had been rejected by California’s past governors, including liberal Democrat Jerry Brown, because it simply couldn’t pass constitutional muster. It was current governor and vocal critic of President Trump Gavin Newsom who signed the law after it passed California’s legislature.

Yesterday, right after our broadcast, a federal judge issued a temporary, tentative order against California’s first in the nation law requiring candidates to disclose tax returns in exchange for a spot on the primary ballot. It’s only a temporary move, but for now at least it’s certainly an early victory for the President.

The judge, Morrison England Jr., reportedly stated he made his decision because the current law would harm multiple candidates:

U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. said he would issue a final ruling by the end of the month but took the unusual step of issuing the tentative order from the bench. He said there would be “irreparable harm without temporary relief” for Trump and other candidates from the law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in July.

Judge England is absolutely correct. This is another example of why it’s so crucial to appoint and confirm common-sense conservative judges.

My dad, Jay Sekulow, who serves on President Trump’s legal team in his private capacity, also released a statement regarding Judge England’s decision:

"We are encouraged that the federal court has tentatively concluded that a preliminary injunction should be granted. We look forward to the court’s written order. It remains our position that the law is unconstitutional because states are not permitted to add additional requirements for candidates for president, and that the law violated citizens’ 1st Amendment right of association."

In addition, you know the ACLJ is constantly working to fight religious persecution all around the world. On today’s show we also discussed how this coming Monday at the United Nations, President Trump is doing something pretty amazing and unprecedented.

The President is going to host and provide keynote remarks at an event called the Global Call to Protect Religious Freedom. According to a statement from the White House Press Secretary’s office:

The President is working to broaden international support for ongoing efforts to protect religious freedom in the wake of increasing persecution of people on the basis of their beliefs and a growing number of attacks on and destruction of houses of worship by state and non-state actors.  The President will call on the international community to take concrete steps to prevent attacks against people on the basis of their religion or beliefs and to ensure the sanctity of houses of worship and all public spaces for all faiths.

The President is going to the U.N. earlier than he has to, in order to speak more than he normally would, to defend religious freedom and the persecution of religious people around the world, as well as defend the sanctity of places of worship. This is so encouraging.

As ACLJ Director of Government Affairs Thann Bennett pointed out, what’s so significant about this is the President is asking the General Assembly to take a step away from the focus they usually have, which is often primarily about censoring Israel, and redirecting its attention to the horrendous religious persecution happening around the world.

My dad was able to call in to the show today to discuss the judge’s tentative ruling, and also addressed the President’s appearance at this historic religious freedom event.

“The fact that the President is willing to elevate this at the United Nations General Assembly with a separate meeting that will be widely attended speaks well to where our country’s leadership is as it relates to the critical issue of religious liberty and religious freedom.”

You can listen to the entire episode here.