The Supreme Court has backed President Donald Trump’s long-contested travel ban in a 5-4 decision on Tuesday.
The ban blocks travelers from several countries: Syria, Libya, Iran, Yemen, Somalia, North Korea and Venezuela. Chad was taken off the list in April.
Travel ban upheld in 5-4 decision -> https://t.co/ZOLM5G9yI6
— Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) June 26, 2018
The Supreme Court has rejected challenges that the ban is discriminatory against Muslims, or that it exceeds the President’s authority.
Supreme Court upholds President Trump’s ban on travel from several mostly Muslim countries, rejecting a challenge that it discriminated against Muslims or exceeded his authority. https://t.co/eXWrPlBdm8
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 26, 2018
This was the third iteration of Trump’s travel ban, which has been hotly contested in the courts.
Lower courts had said “people from the six banned nations with a ‘bona fide’ relationship with someone in the United States could not be kept out of the country,” and “grandparents, cousins and other relatives” could not be excluded.
The September 2017 ban targeted people from North Korea, Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia and Chad; people from those countries will not be allowed to enter the U.S.
Also, people from Iraq and some people from Venezuela will face a tougher time if they want to enter the country, per the most recent iteration of the travel ban.
These are proposed as permanent restrictions on travel, as opposed to President Trump’s initial 90-day temporary ban that he introduced last March, which temporarily banned travel to the U.S. for people from six terror haven countries.
The previous travel ban put a 90-day halt on issuing visas to citizens from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Notably, Iraq was not included.
The order also put a hold on accepting refugees from anywhere in the world for 120 days.
The revised ban was issued in March 2017, after the President introduced a travel ban in January 2017 after taking office.
In the new order, the President exempted existing visa holders from the travel ban and also removed Iraq from the original list of seven countries, bringing the number down to six countries.
The President has insisted the travel ban is needed in order to fight terrorism. Many criticized the ban as something that singles out Muslims.
