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Would Donald Trump's Suggested Ban On Muslims Be Legal?

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NEW YORK (CBS NEWS) - Less than 24 hours after President Obama went on national television to urge Americans to reject a war between America and Islam, Donald Trump took a step in the opposite direction and called for the "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States."

While some may have viewed the president's reaction as insufficient to meet the threat posed by terrorism, Trump's proposal appears to be an overreach which is largely inconsistent with U.S. practices, law and precedent.

"The only respect in which religion is a legal criterion in immigration choices is that fleeing religious persecution weighs in someone's favor on the question of being granted refugee status," Richard Primus, a constitutional law professor at the University of Michigan law school, told CBS News. "Saying 'no Muslims allowed' or 'no Christians allowed' would not be legal. It would probably be unconstitutional."

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