Your Travel Ban Isn’t Safe Yet, Mr. Trump
Read carefully, the opinion makes it clear that most of the Supreme Court justices think Mr. Trump’s executive order, which restricts travel from six Muslim-majority countries, is likely to be struck down if the court hears the case in the fall, as scheduled.
.. The court made it clear that the Fourth and Ninth Circuits were correct to suspend the ban for those nationals who have “bona fide” relationships here in the country. That is a long list: families, university students and professors, business owners and partners.
.. Rudy Giuliani told us on national television early in Mr. Trump’s term that the president wanted to enact a Muslim ban and that he had asked him to “make it legal.” While Mr. Trump’s lawyers tried to argue the contrary, Mr. Trump continued to admit in public that he preferred the first “politically incorrect” version of the ban, a reference to limits on Muslim immigration.
.. It’s possible that the court will never make a final ruling on the legality of the travel ban because Mr. Trump might allow the policy to expire. The justices might want to avoid stating the obvious: The president of the United States signed an executive order based on unconscionable prejudice against Muslims. Courts generally like to avoid such direction confrontation between the branches when possible. But for those who look carefully, it is clear that the justices have already rebuked him by keeping the injunction on his ban in place for a significant segment of those who would have been affected by it.
.. Mr. Trump can tweet about his victory all he wants. The truth is that the Supreme Court has kept part of the injunctions against the travel ban in place, suggesting that it was likely that the president of the United States enacted an illegal policy as his signature initiative. We have a Constitution that prohibits policy based on prejudice. And we have a president who, in his indifference to the Constitution and the rights it protects, signed an executive order that violates that basic value.