SC allows limited version of Trump’s travel ban to take effect

International Desk: Donald Trump has secured a considerable legal and political victory, after the Supreme Court ruled that it will allow a limited version of his Muslim travel ban to take effect.

A series of lower courts had ruled that Mr Trump’s executive order, banning the entry of people from six Muslim-majority nations, was unconstitutional.

However, the Supreme Court said it would hear arguments from Mr Trump’s lawyers when justices return for their next term in October. It said that in the meantime, it would grant parts of his administration’s emergency request to put the March 6 executive order into effect immediately while the legal battle continues.

“We grant the government’s applications to stay the injunctions, to the extent the injunctions prevent enforcement of [Mr Trump’s executive order] with respect to foreign nationals who lack any bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States,” the court said.

Reuters reported that the travel ban will take effect “with respect to foreign nationals who lack any bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States”. The court also said it would allow a 120-day ban on all refugees entering the United States to go into operation on the same grounds.

Three of the court's conservative justices said they would have granted Mr Trump’s request in full, including his appointee Neil Gorsuch.

The court did leave one category of foreigners protected, namely those “with a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States”.

Mr Trump said last week that the ban - which applies to citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen - would take effect 72 hours after being cleared by courts.

Mr Trump first signed an executive order on this issue in January, something that sparked chaos at airports across the country and around the world. It also triggered widespread protests. Several courts said the ban was unconstitutional and put it on hold.

He then signed a second order in early March that excluded Iraq from the list of countries and did n[t block Syrian refugees or freeze the overall refugee programme.

Source: Independent

risingbd/DHAKA/June 26, 2017/Amirul