Washington, DC – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of President Trump’s travel ban affecting residents of six majority-Muslim countries.
The Supreme Court justices granted his administration’s request to fully reinstate the third version of his travel ban, The Hill reported.
They said the policy can take full effect despite multiple legal challenges against it that haven’t yet made their way through the judicial system, FOX News reported.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and a federal district court in Maryland had ruled the president could only block nationals from the six majority Muslim countries if they lacked a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States. The countries affected were Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia and Chad.
The high court’s decision now puts those rulings on hold.
The most recent challenge to the President’s latest travel ban came from the state of Hawaii and the International Refugee Assistance Project, who argued the Supreme Court carved out the same bona fide relationship exemption in June when it partially reinstated Trump’s 90-day ban on nationals from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan and Yemen.
But the Trump administration argued that a lot has changed since that Supreme Court decision in June.
“Multiple government agencies have conducted a comprehensive, worldwide review of the information shared by foreign governments that is used to screen aliens seeking entry to the United States,” Solicitor General Noel Francisco said in court papers.
“Based on that review, the proclamation adopts tailored entry restrictions to address extensive findings that a handful of particular foreign governments have deficient information-sharing and identity-management practices, or other risk factors,” Francisco said.
Only Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice Sonia Sotomayor said they would have denied the government’s request, The Hill reported.
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