More than 200 Jewish studies scholars across the U.S. signed on to a letter demanding lawmakers block Trump’s executive order, making a comparison between the refugee ban today and the United States’s history of refusing to allow Jewish refugees to escape to the U.S. during World War II. The letter was sent to Congress as Democratic senators tried and failed to push through legislation to rescind Trump’s executive order. Later in the day, Senate Democrats held a candlelight vigil outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., where thousands gathered to oppose Trump’s policies.