TRAVEL BAN DEFENSE BEGINS AT HIGH COURT

The Trump administration urged the Supreme Court on Thursday to end the six- month legal battle over its immigrant and refugee travel ban by ruling that it is all about national security, not religion.

In a lengthy brief that served as the opening salvo in a Supreme Court case scheduled for oral argument two months from today, the Justice Department argued that Trump’s vow to ban Muslims during last year’s presidential campaign is legally, if not rhetorically, irrelevant.

The travel ban’s challengers, including Hawaii and a coalition of immigrant rights groups, will respond next month as the court showdown approaches.

In the meantime, the two sides continue to joust in a federal appeals court in California over the Supreme Court’s orders in June and July that allowed the ban to take effect temporarily, but with exceptions for close relatives of U. S. citizens and certain refugees.

That court has scheduled a hearing for Aug. 28.

The saga began Jan. 27, when Trump issued an executive order entitled “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States.”

It suspended travel from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen for 90 days, blocked all refugees for 120 days, and suspended travel from Syria.

The action led to chaos at airports in the U. S. and overseas, followed within hours by temporary restraining orders and, over the next few weeks, a series of federal court rulings striking down the ban.