TRUMP LIKELY TO WIN TRAVEL BAN CASE AT SUPREME COURT

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump appears likely to win his travel ban case at the Supreme Court.

Chief Justice John Roberts and justice Anthony Kennedy both signalled support for the travel policy in arguments Wednesday at the high court. The ban’s challengers almost certainly need one of those two justices if the court is to strike down the ban on travellers from several mostly Muslim countries.

The travel ban case is the court’s first comprehensive look at a Trump policy — one of considerable importance to the president and highly controversial since it was first rolled out a week after Trump took office.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor was the most aggressive questioner of solicitor general Noel Francisco in his defence of the Trump policy, and three other liberal justices also raised questions about it.

The justices voted in December to allow the policy to take full effect pending their full consideration. Wednesday was the first time they took it up in open court.

The Trump administration is asking the court to reverse lower court rulings that would strike down the ban.

The Supreme Court is considering whether the president can indefinitely keep people out of the country based on nationality. It is also looking at whether the policy is aimed at excluding Muslims from the US. A decision is expected by late June.

The administration has argued that courts have no role to play because the president has broad powers over immigration and national security, and foreigners have no right to enter the country.