Supreme Court Lifts Stay of Trump Travel Ban

The Supreme Court mostly set aside the lower court stay of president Trump’s travel ban:

The Supreme Court agreed Monday to allow a limited version of President Trump’s ban on travelers from six mostly Muslim countries to take effect and will consider in the fall the president’s broad powers in immigration matters in a case that raises fundamental issues of national security and religious discrimination.

The court made an important exception: It said the ban “may not be enforced against foreign nationals who have a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.”

In the unsigned opinion, the court said that a foreign national who wants to visit or live with a family member would have such a relationship, and so would students from the designated countries — Libya, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — who were admitted to a U.S. university.

The court said it would hear the case when it reconvenes in October. But it also indicated in the ruling that things may change dramatically by then. It asked the parties to address whether the case would be moot by the time it hears it; the ban is supposed to be a temporary one while the government reviews its vetting procedures.

My quick reading is that they thought the lower courts overstepped their bounds, but issued a split-the-difference ruling in hopes that the entire issue would work itself out politically and spare them from having to wade into the dense thicket of potential political and constitutional issues.

All the Justices voted for a stay in part, while Justices Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch arguing further for a stay in full.

Full test of the decision is here.

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3 Responses to “Supreme Court Lifts Stay of Trump Travel Ban”

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  2. Quartermaster says:

    That Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch would argue for a stay in full is disturbing. You have to wonder if they read the constitution. POTUS has plenary power in such things and Trump really should tell them to pound sand.

  3. Lawrence Person says:

    In case I was unclear, Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch were arguing for a full (rather than partial) stay of the lower court’s suspension of the travel ban.

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