For months, President Donald Trump has been decrying the federal courts for stifling his ban on citizens of six majority-Muslim countries entering the United States. Two different federal courts ruled enforcement of the travel ban should be on hold while judges decide whether it’s constitutional.
Now, with a Supreme Court ruling that the Trump administration should be allowed to enforce the ban — at least in part — starting on Thursday, June 29 (72 hours after the Court’s ruling), while the court waits to hear the case against it in the fall, Trump is very happy.
“As President, I cannot allow people into our country who want to do us harm,” he said in a statement:
Today's unanimous Supreme Court decision is a clear victory for our national security. It allows the travel suspension for the six terror-prone countries and the refugee suspension to become largely effective.
As President, I cannot allow people into our country who want to do us harm. I want people who can love the United States and all of its citizens, and who will be hardworking and productive.
My number one responsibility as Commander in Chief is to keep the American people safe. Today's ruling allows me to use an important tool for protecting our Nation's homeland. I am also particularly gratified that the Supreme Court’s decision was 9-0.
When the Court decided to take the case, it also decided to allow a modified ban to be enforced: Anyone with a “bona fide relationship” with a person or organization in America will be allowed to enter, in addition to anyone with a valid visa to enter the US — contrary to previous iterations of Trump’s executive order.
The travel ban still faces a long road to being fully legal: The Supreme Court will hear the lawsuits against the executive order in the fall.
The ruling was unsigned, but, as Trump alluded to in his statement, it did have the support of liberal judges. As Vox’s Dara Lind wrote, the Court’s four liberal justices (Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan) signed on to the partial lifting of the hold on the ban, along with Justice Anthony Kennedy and Chief Justice John Roberts.
Conservative Justices Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito made the case that the Trump administration should be allowed to enforce the ban in all cases.
