Supreme Court Allows Latest Travel Ban To Take Full And Immediate Effect

by Kevin Daley, Daily Caller, 12/04/2017

The U.S. Supreme Court Monday allowed the latest iteration of President Donald Trump’s travel ban to take full effect for the time being, as lower courts continue to wrestle with lawsuits fighting the ban.

The order permits the administration to enforce the president’s September proclamation, which suspends entry of foreign nationals from seven nations, including Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen.

Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor noted their dissent from the Court’s decision.

The Department of Justice asked the justices to lift lower court orders barring enforcement of the proclamation while legal challenges are adjudicated by the courts. Challenges to the proclamation are currently pending before the 4th and 9th U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal.

The Court agreed to lift those orders, but expressed no view on the merits of the case.

The president issued the proclamation in late September when the second version of the travel ban expired after a 90-day enforcement period. Federal courts in Maryland and Hawaii issued orders forbidding enforcement of key provisions of the proclamation shortly after it was issued. Those orders were partially upheld by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which concluded any national from six of the eight countries named in the order with a significant connection to the United States may still enter the country.