On Tuesday, the Supreme Court backed President Donald Trump’s long-contested travel ban in a 5-4 decision.
The ban blocks travelers from several countries, including some terror-prone nations: Syria, Libya, Iran, Yemen, Somalia, North Korea and Venezuela.
The Supreme Court rejected challenges that the ban is discriminatory against Muslims, or that it exceeds the President’s authority.
President Donald Trump called the Supreme Court’s decision a “profound vindication.”
The White House released a statement from President Trump, which you can read in full here:
Today’s Supreme Court ruling is a tremendous victory for the American People and the Constitution. The Supreme Court has upheld the clear authority of the President to defend the national security of the United States. In this era of worldwide terrorism and extremist movements bent on harming innocent civilians, we must properly vet those coming into our country. 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. As long as I am President, I will defend the sovereignty, safety, and security of the American People, and fight for an immigration system that serves the national interests of the United States and its citizens. Our country will always be safe, secure, and protected on my watch.
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.
