Trump asks apex court to reverse travel ban ruling
Justice dept calls for Hawaii judge’s weakening of ban to be set aside
WASHINGTON: The Donald Trump administration has gone to the US Supreme Court against the ruling of a federal court in Hawaii that substantially expanded the list of those exempted from a temporary ban on travellers from six Muslim-majority countries.
The ban affects travellers from to visitors from Iran, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Somalia and Sudan , as well as all refugees.
The Hawaii court added grandparents, brothers- and sisters-inlaw, cousins, nephews and nieces, and uncles and aunts to the exempted list, and cleared for entry refugees working with a resettlement agency in the US.
In its appeal to the Supreme Court, the justice department on Friday said the Hawaii court order “empties the court’s decision of meaning, as it encompasses not just ‘close’ family members, but virtually all family members”.
“Treating all of these relationships as ‘close familial relationship(s)’ reads the term ‘close’ out of the Court’s decision,” the department said, referring to a June 26 order of the Supreme Court which had allowed a partial implementation of the travel ban, exempting visitors claiming “bona fide” and “close familial relationship” with US residents.
The court had left it to the administration to define these relationships and it came up with a list considered very narrow — it included parents, children, siblings, sons-in-law and daughtersin-law, fiancés and stepchildren.
Hawaii challenged that defini- tion, leading to the recent order, which was expected to be opposed by the administration and it did with some urgency, skipping the courts of appeal and challenging it directly in the Supreme Court.
Earlier, US attorney general Jeff Sessions slammed the Hawaii court, saying, “A single federal district court has undertaken by a nationwide injunction to micromanage decisions of the co-equal executive branch related to our national security.
“The district court has issued decisions that are entrusted to the executive branch, undermined national security, delayed necessary action, created confusion, and violated a proper respect for separation of powers.”