Thomas warns of ‘flood of litigation’
ing it violates constitutional protections for religion and the other saying it violates immigration law.
The Supreme Court said Trump’s order may have violated the rights of U.S. citizens, universities and businesses by preventing them from bringing in their relatives, students and employees from overseas.
The court concluded that foreigners who have no ties to the USA cannot argue, on their own, that constitutional protections apply to them.
They’re not U.S. citizens, U.S. students or U.S. employees, so the protections established in the Constitution do not apply to them.
The court ruled that the administration’s main argument — that the travel ban is needed to improve vetting procedures to stop would-be terrorists from entering the country — is at its “peak” when applied to foreigners who have no ties to the USA.
“The interest in preserving national security is ‘ an urgent objective of the highest order,’ ” the justices wrote. “To prevent the Government from pursuing that objective by enforcing (the travel ban) against foreign nationals unconnected to the United States would appreciably injure its interests, without alleviating obvious hardship to anyone else.”
Justice Clarence Thomas issued a warning about creating such an arrangement, warning that a “flood of litigation” will soon follow as the administration tries to walk the line established by the Supreme Court.
“I fear that the Court’s remedy will prove unworkable,” Thomas wrote. “Today’s compromise will burden executive officials with the task of deciding — on peril of contempt — whether individuals from the six affected nations who wish to enter the United States have a sufficient connection to a person or entity in this country.”
The earliest the administration can begin enforcing the portions of the travel ban allowed by the Supreme Court is Thursday.