Supremely favorable
Court leans toward travel ban
President Trump on Wednesday appeared to receive a favorable hearing on his travel-ban case before the Supreme Court, where conservative justices signaled they would likely uphold his authority to prevent people from several majority-Muslim countries from entering the United States.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy, a frequent swing vote on the ninemember court, both indicated they would not second-guess Trump in matters of national security.
The ban’s challengers, led by the state of Hawaii, almost certainly need one of those two justices if the court is to strike down the ban, which Trump has argued is necessary to keep out terrorists.
Opponents of the ban have argued that it was motivated by Trump’s enmity toward Muslims and that the policy violates federal immigration law and the Constitution’s prohibition on religious discrimination.
The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to reverse lower-court rulings that would strike down the ban after the justices voted in December to allow the policy to take full effect pending their consideration.
Conservative Justice Samuel Alito said during the argument that the text of Trump’s proclamation about the ban “does not look at all like a Muslim ban.”
Kennedy pressed Neal Katyal, a lawyer for the challengers, about why courts should second-guess a president’s national-security judgments.
He also responded to Katyal about whether the ban would be permanent, saying the policy’s call for a report every six months “indicates there’ll be a reassessment” from time to time.
When Kennedy asked Solicitor General Noel Francisco whether Trump’s campaign-trail calls to keep Muslims out of the US should be considered in evaluating the ban, Francisco said the justices should disregard them.
The court is due to issue a ruling by the end of June.
The current policy prohibits most people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, North Korea and some Venezuelan government officials from entering the US.