The U.S. Supreme Court passed the newest version of President Donald Trump‘s travel ban. On Monday afternoon, seven of the nine justices lifted injunctions imposed by lower courts against the president’s third executive order barring travelers from Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Somalia and Yemen. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor both dissented.
Though lower court rulings had exempted foreigners with family, business, or educational ties to the U.S., the Supreme Court’s decision allows the executive branch t0 implement the ban in its entirety. As challengers mount a defense while climbing the legal system, Trump’s ban will temporarily go into effect. Challenges in Maryland (brought by the International Refugee Assistance Project) and Hawaii (helmed by a federal judge) will go before the appeals court this week.
“The Constitution and acts of Congress confer on the President broad authority to prevent aliens abroad from entering this country when he deems it in the nation’s interest,” Solicitor General noel francisco argued in regards to the president’s ability to bar entry into the U.S.
The travel ban is shaping into a larger Supreme Court battle over the scope of the executive branch. Coupled with the White House’s recent entanglements over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a game of tug-of-war shifts between the various factions of government, greased by the president’s appointment picks to agency and branch alike.
