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Washington, DC – Protesters have already gathered on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court to decry the court’s decision to uphold President Donald Trump’s travel ban, which was announced on Tuesday morning (video below).
The ruling, which upheld the third version of the travel ban executive order, was decided by a vote of five to four, and the decision was written by Chief Justice John Roberts, CNN reported.
USA Today reported that Roberts went out of his way to scold those who have compared President Trump’s policy to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
“The forcible relocation of U. S. citizens to concentration camps, solely and explicitly on the basis of race, is objectively unlawful and outside the scope of presidential authority,” the chief said. “But it is wholly inapt to liken that morally repugnant order to a facially neutral policy denying certain foreign nationals the privilege of admission.”
In the ruling which upheld President Trump’s travel ban, the court said the president’s statutory power over immigration was not undermined by the President’s history of incendiary statements about the dangers he said Muslims pose to Americans, The New York Times reported.
The ruling reversed a series of lower-court decisions that had struck down the travel ban as illegal or unconstitutional, USA Today reported.
The third version of the travel ban, released in September of 2017, applies to foreign nationals that the Trump administration has said have not been willing to share information on terrorism, and included Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Chad, Venezuela, and North Korea, according to USA Today. Venezuela and North Korea were added after the lawsuits were filed.
The court’s ruling supported the government’s argument that the travel ban fell within the President’s power to craft national security policy. The Supreme Court determined that it is within the President’s authority to “suspend entry of aliens into the United States,” The Guardian reported.
President Trump heralded the decision as a “tremendous victory” and promised to continue his efforts to defend the nation from terrorism, The New York Times reported.
“This ruling is also a moment of profound vindication following months of hysterical commentary from the media and Democratic politicians who refuse to do what it takes to secure our border and our country,” President Trump said in a statement issued shortly after the ruling was announced.
Protesters rallied after the news was released on Tuesday morning, and have gathered to protest on the steps of the Supreme Court building. Several Democratic lawmakers stopped to address them with words of support, CNN reported.
More protests were planned in numerous other cities beginning later in the day.
Watch video of protesters being arrested for blocking a road: