I am so old that I remember when California Attorney General Xavier Becerra was fighting against travel bans.
Let’s get in the Wayback Machine and turn the dial to March, 2017:
California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra issued a statement Monday saying President Trump’s decision to rescind a travel ban bogged down in court challenges “confirms what we all knew: the travel ban was unconstitutional and un-American.”
Becerra, a social justice warrior and leading general in the War on Trump, relies on one of the tried-and-tested tools of progressive activism: The Double Standard. This week, he issued his own travel ban on that red bastion of traditional values and implemented a travel ban on Oklahoma.
Because Becerra is all about choice, as long as people choose the progressive option.
California’s ban on state-funded travel grew to include a ninth state on Friday with Attorney General Xavier Becerra announcing new restrictions on public employees attending work-related events in Oklahoma.Since 2017, California has forbidden state employees from traveling to states with laws that California leaders perceive to be discriminatory against gay and transgender people.
Legal Insurrection readers will recall my post noting that state-funded travel to Alabama, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas had previously been prohibited due to the 2017 law. Such moves impact school sport and academic teams from travel and competition, hindering the ability of our children and young adults to succeed.
California’s real “best and brightest” are collateral damage in this Golden State culture war, spearheaded by Becerra. A good example was when the Citrus College Rocket Owls, one of 60 school teams invited to Alabama to compete in NASA Student Launch Program, had to pull out because of this legislative inanity.
But Becerra can virtue signal at Sacramento cocktail parties and San Francisco banquets . . . isn’t that what’s important?
Oklahomans have not noticed any change since the ban started.
In Oklahoma City, an official with the Oklahoma City Convention and Visitors Bureau said she is unaware of any cancellations in visitor bookings because of the dispute, but that it could be too soon to tell.“I’ve not seen an effect,” said Sandy Price, vice president of tourism sales. “I’d hate for there to be a downturn because of this.”
Thirty states voted for Trump, so Becerra has only 21 more to go before November.
Interestingly, a lawsuit has been filed claiming that Becerra is ineligible to serve as California’s Attorney General.
According to the suit filed in Sacramento County Superior Court by rival candidate Eric Early, Becerra cannot serve because he was listed as “inactive” from 1991 to 2017 in the state bar. State law requires the attorney general to have been “admitted to practice” before the state Supreme Court for five years before taking office. Becerra was admitted to the bar in 1985.“For almost 26 straight years, he was an inactive member of the state bar,” Early said in an interview. “He does not have what it takes to be the chief legal officer of the state of California.”But Becerra’s campaign and Brown’s office noted this all has a familiar ring — a judge 11 years ago threw out a lawsuit claiming Brown was ineligible for the office of Attorney General to which he had just been elected because his bar membership was inactive from 1997 to April 2003.The judge in that 2007 ruling argued that “admission to practice law is separate from the question of ‘active’ or ‘inactive’ membership in the State Bar,” which she called a “purely ministerial” distinction that affects only member dues.
While it would be great if he were ruled ineligible on a technicality, I hope that Californians are prepared to make him ineligible by voting him out of office in November. Any challenger he faces will have tons of material to work with show Becerra’s #Resistance priorities actually hurt Californians.
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