Following a number of court losses, the Trump administration has scored a massive victory with a Supreme Court ruling that the Trump administration can legally enforce the controversial travel ban even as some lower courts were continuing to debate the legality of the measure.
The policy was originally unveiled in September by the Trump administration as part of its hardline immigration policy, but it immediately faced court challenges. However, the Supreme Court has now ruled that the ban is legal and can begin to be implemented immediately. The ban prevents people from certain nations coming to the United States, including Chad, Libya, Somalia, Venezuela, Yemen, Iran, North Korea and Syria. The first two such bans that President Donald Trump attempted to introduce were both rejected by the courts.
The travel ban is one of the key promises of Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration, along with his pledge to build a wall on the border between the United States and Mexico. Hawaii and Maryland courts ruled the ban could not be implemented while legal challenges remained pending, after which the Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court. Critics claim that because six of the nations affected by the travel are Muslim majority countries, the ban is an infringement of freedom of religion, which is a constitutional right.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions called the ruling a substantial victory for the security and safety of the nation and its people. The Supreme Court has urged the Court of Appeals to quickly resolve the issue of the ban’s legality.