Google parent company Alphabet is spearheading the funding efforts for the legal brief signed by nearly 100 companies objecting to President Donald Trump’s temporary immigration ban.
Alphabet is working with a Washington, D.C.-based law firm on the amicus (or “friend of the court”) brief, according to Bloomberg. An amicus brief is a legal document that is officially filed by parties not involved in the case, but have a direct interest in the subject at hand.
After the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit preserved a lower judge’s order to temporarily stop the executive order on restricting immigration, the Trump administration filed an appeal to quickly reverse the stoppage. Ninety-seven companies — the majority of them from the tech industry — then coalesced to file a brief opposing Trump’s appeal. They argue the executive order is illegal and economically wrong for the country.
“These companies’ operations are affected by the Executive Order,” the official Amici Curiae brief reads. “The Order represents a significant departure from the principles of fairness and predictability that have governed the immigration system of the United States for more than fifty years–and the Order inflicts significant harm on American business, innovation, and growth as a result.”
Participants of the legal brief included Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Uber, and many others.
Google’s decision to lead the way on the coordination front of combating Trump’s executive order isn’t very surprising, since the executive chairman of Google’s parent company, Eric Schmidt, was an unabashed supporter of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Schmidt even told company employees at a weekly meeting that he thought the Trump administration is “going to do these evil things.”
The tech conglomerate isn’t just helping to fund the legal action. Google is also financing a crisis fund for four organizations that are battling the Trump administration’s executive orders and providing assistance to refugees and immigrants. The company put $2 million into the reserve, which can be matched with up to $2 million in donations from employees, according to USA Today.
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