The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to revive its revised ban that limits travellers visiting the United States from six predominately Muslim countries.
The administration filed two emergency applications with the nine justices seeking to block two different lower court rulings that went against Trump’s March 6th order barring entry for people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days while the US government implements stricter visa screening.
On May 25th, the 4th US circuit court of appeals in Richmond, Virginia upheld a Maryland judge’s ruling blocking the order. The administration also filed a separate appeal in that case.
In its brief asking the Supreme Court to consider the case, the Trump administration said the question for the justices was momentous.
“The stakes are indisputably high: The court of appeals concluded that the president acted in bad faith with religious animus when, after consulting with three members of his cabinet, he placed a brief pause on entry from six countries that present heightened risks of terrorism,” the brief said.
It added that the appeals court had gone badly astray.
“The court did not dispute that the president acted at the height of his powers in instituting” the executive order’s “temporary pause on entry by nationals from certain countries that sponsor or shelter terrorism,” the brief said. The brief also said the order’s “text and operation are religion-neutral.”
If the government’s request is granted, the ban would go into effect.
History
A week into his presidency, Trump issued an executive order to ban travel from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days. It also banned all Syrian refugees indefinitely. The order was blocked by the Ninth Circuit in February.
In March, Trump issued a new, revised ban that narrowed the scope of his original order. It omitted Iraq from the countries that faced the travel scrutiny and allowed case-by-case exceptions for travellers from the others. It also removed the complete ban on Syrian refugees and deleted explicit references to religion.
