Yates tried to claim she was concerned about religious liberty. But the executive order didn’t talk about any specific religions.
Senate Republicans on Monday suggested that partisanship was behind ex-Attorney General Sally Yates’ decision not to defend the Trump administration’s executive order on travel.
Yates was fired by President Trump after her controversial decision, which came out just days after the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel decided Trump’s order was legal.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., pressed the issue in a Senate Judiciary subcommittee by asking her bluntly, “Who appointed you to the United States Supreme Court?”
Yates described her reasoning more fully in answers to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who used the hearing to press Yates on why she made that unprecedented move. Cruz cited federal law saying the president can suspend the entry of aliens if U.S. security is at risk.