U.S. Supreme Court To Review Trump Travel Ban, Reinstates Portion Of It

BAY AREA, CA – The U.S. Supreme Court announced today that it will review President Donald Trump's travel ban restricting entry from six predominantly Muslim countries.

In the meantime, until it holds a hearing this fall, the court reinstated part of the ban.

That action overrules two federal appeals courts, including one in San Francisco, that blocked the ban more completely.

The high court said that for the time being, the government can block admission by visitors and refugees who have no relationship to the United States.

But it said the government can't prohibit entry by people who have "a credible claim" of a genuine relationship with either a person or an institution within the U.S.

The court said that includes people who want to visit or live with a U.S. relative, students, workers with a job offer from an American company and lecturers invited to address an American audience.

The court said it will hold a hearing on the cases this fall. The panel will then issue a final written decision sometime before next year.

The travel ban was issued by Trump in an executive order on March 6. It would bar entry by citizens of six countries for three months and refugees from all countries for four months while the Trump administration
reviews its vetting procedures.

The six countries are Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

That ban was a narrowed-down version of a Jan. 27 executive order that was blocked by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

The revised March 6 order applied to six rather than seven countries and did not bar people who are legal permanent residents or already have visas.

The high court will review decisions by the 9th Circuit and by the 4th Circuit in Virginia that enjoined the ban.

The two appeals courts used different reasons. The 4th Circuit said the ban appeared to be unconstitutional because it targeted Muslims on the basis of religious beliefs. The 9th Circuit did not address constitutional issues and instead said that Trump exceeded his authority by not following the requirements of federal laws before issuing the ban.

Three justices -- Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and newly installed Justice Neil Gorsuch -- said in a partial dissent that they favored reinstating all of the travel ban for the time being.

Trump said in a statement issued by the White House, "Today's unanimous Supreme Court decision is a clear victory for our national security."

The ruling "allows me to use an important tool for protecting our nation's homeland," Trump said.

The Santa Clara-based Northern California branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said the high court decision "ignores the anti-Muslim bigotry that is at the heart of the travel ban executive orders."

The council said it will continue to challenge the ban and contended that in the meantime, the Supreme Court's action "it has opened the door to legal chaos and official overreach in embassies and at the border."

The American Civil Liberties Union issued a statement saying the ban "violates the fundamental constitutional principle that government cannot favor or disfavor any one religion."

ACLU Immigrant Rights Project director Omar Jadwat said, "The Supreme Court now has a chance to permanently strike it down."

The ACLU represents immigrant advocacy groups that challenged the ban in the case that reached the 4th Circuit.

The case that reached the 9th Circuit in San Francisco was initiated by the state of Hawaii, which argued the ban violated the rights of Hawaiians with overseas relatives and the rights of the University of Hawaii
in seeking to admit foreign students and professors.

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