Court ruling makes US ‘less secure’

So, we guess the next question is: ‘‘Who’s next?’’ Now that the Supreme Court has upheld President Donald Trump’s ‘‘travel ban’’ targeting Muslims, and now that he has stated his intention to do away with due process for refugees seeking asylum along our southern borders, what group will Trump find next to demonise, humiliate or seek to punish on grounds of ethnicity, culture or faith?

Tuesday’s ruling, carried by a 5-4 majority of the court’s conservative members, lets stand the third and most recent version of the so-called ‘‘Muslim ban’’.

Chief Justice John Roberts said that claims of religious bias against Muslims did not hold up against ‘‘a sufficient national security justification’’. We have to wonder if there would be the same such ‘‘national security justification’’ if the countries in question were, say, ‘‘predominantly Christian’’.

Neal Katyal, the former US acting solicitor general who argued the case against the ban, stated the simple truth: ‘‘The travel ban is atrocious policy and makes us less safe and undermines our American ideals.’’ It wasn’t just Muslims who lost a bit of their freedom on Tuesday. We all lost it.

And we all should feel less secure today about the planks holding up one of our most basic freedoms. That is, the freedom to worship as we please, or not to worship at all.