U.S Supreme Court Upholds Trump Travel Ban
The United States Supreme Court has allowed President Donald Trump’s travel ban.
In a 5 to 4 vote on Tuesday, the country’s apex court ruled that President Trump acted lawfully in imposing limits on travel from several predominantly Muslim nations.
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The court’s orders mean that the Trump administration can fully enforce its new restrictions on travel from eight nations, six of them predominantly Muslim. For now, most citizens of Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Chad and North Korea will be barred from entering the United States, along with some groups of people from Venezuela.
The restrictions vary in their details, but in most cases, citizens of the countries will be unable to emigrate to the United States permanently and many will be barred from working, studying or vacationing in the country.
The ruling ends a legal saga that dates to the beginning of the Trump presidency. The decision also bolsters Mr. Trump’s authority to make good on his campaign promises to secure the nation’s borders.
Minutes after the ruling was issued, Trump tweeted: “SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS TRUMP TRAVEL BAN. Wow!”
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Trump has issued three executive orders curbing travel from certain Muslim-majority countries. Lower courts have blocked various versions of the ban. The current order was allowed to come into full effect in December 2017, while legal challenges moved forward.
Hawaii, several individuals and a Muslim group challenged the latest ban’s limits on travel from the predominantly Muslim nations; they said the latest ban, like the earlier ones, was tainted by religious animus and not adequately justified by national security concerns.
An appeal court in San Francisco ruled that Mr. Trump had exceeded the authority Congress had given him over immigration and had violated a part of the immigration laws barring discrimination in the issuance of visas.
In a separate decision, another court blocked the ban on a different ground, saying it violated the Constitution’s prohibition of religious discrimination.
