Donald Trump's travel ban upheld by US Supreme Court

Donald Trump welcomed news of the decision on Twitter
AFP/Getty Images
Robin de Peyer26 June 2018

Donald Trump’s controversial travel ban targeting people from several majority-Muslim countries has been upheld by America’s top court.

The Supreme Court rejected a challenge that the ban discriminated against Muslims or exceeded the president’s authority by a 5-4 majority.

Mr Trump’s highly controversial policy applies to travellers from five countries with overwhelmingly Muslim populations: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.

It has attracted heavy criticism from refugee and human rights groups, as well as from other world leaders.

Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the opinion, said the ban was “squarely within the scope of Presidential authority”.

But the judge was careful not to endorse Mr Trump's provocative statements about immigration in general and Muslims in particular.

"We express no view on the soundness of the policy," Chief Justice Roberts wrote.

The travel ban has been fully in place since the court declined to block it in December.

Mr Trump shared the news and wrote "Wow!" on Twitter after the decision was announced.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in a dissent that based on the evidence in the case "a reasonable observer would conclude that the Proclamation was motivated by anti-Muslim animus".

She said her colleagues arrived at the opposite result by "ignoring the facts, misconstruing our legal precedent, and turning a blind eye to the pain and suffering the Proclamation inflicts upon countless families and individuals, many of whom are United States citizens".

Just a week after he took office in January 2017, Mr Trump announced his first travel ban aimed at seven countries.

That triggered chaos and protests across the US as travellers were stopped from boarding international flights and detained at airports for hours.

Mr Trump tweaked the order after the 9th US circuit court of appeals in San Francisco refused to reinstate the ban.

The next version, unveiled in March 2017, dropped Iraq from the list of covered countries and made it clear the 90-day ban covering Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen did not apply to those travellers who already had visas.

It also eliminated language that would give priority to religious minorities. Critics said the changes did not erase the ban's legal problems.

The current version dates from September and it followed what the administration has called a thorough review by several federal agencies, although it has not shared the review with courts or the public.

Federal trial judges in Hawaii and Maryland had blocked the travel ban from taking effect, finding that the new version looked too much like its predecessors. Those rulings were largely upheld by federal appeals courts in Richmond, Virginia, and San Francisco.

Chief Justice Roberts wrote that presidents have frequently used their power to talk to the nation "to espouse the principles of religious freedom and tolerance on which this Nation was founded".

But he added that presidents and the country have not always lived up "to those inspiring words".

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in