Douglas Blair is a contributor to the Daily Signal and a graduate of Heritage's Young Leaders Program.
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Immigrants rights advocates said Giuliani's words could offer them evidence to prove the administration had a "discriminatory purpose.". The Democratic National Committee blasted Trump for trying to "silence" Yates and predicted the confirmation of his nominee to lead the Justice Department would get tougher.
Less than two weeks after his inauguration, and only hours after Yates sent a message to department lawyers announcing that she would not defend Trump's order restricting travel and immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries, the new president removed the nation's top law enforcement officer in a move not seen since the Nixon era.
It's very unusual for the Justice Department to refuse to defend a law or an executive order, though it isn't unprecedented. During the Obama administration, for example, top officials decided not to defend the Defense of Marriage Act that defined marriage as between one man and one woman.