Supreme Court Delivers Compromise in Latest Ruling on Trump Travel Ban Justices allow travel by extended family members, but block loosening of ban for refugees By Brent Kendall
https://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-court-takes-split-approach-in-latest-trump-travel-ban-ruling-1500487723
WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court reinstated the Trump administration’s plans to keep many refugees from entering the U.S., but blocked the White House from sweeping travel restrictions on extended families of American residents, a second compromise action by the justices in the hot-button case.
The court, in a one-page order Wednesday, prohibited the Trump administration from banning travel by people from six Muslim-majority countries who are grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles and other extended family members of U.S. residents. That part of the order was a setback for President Donald Trump and signaled administration officials might have adopted too narrow a reading of the high court’s ruling on the issue last month.
But in a partial victory for the president, justices said his administration could move ahead for now to ban a broad group of refugees with no U.S. family ties.
The White House didn’t respond to requests for comment. The Justice Department said it looked forward to making its arguments for the ban in additional court proceedings.
The court’s move marked the second time in recent weeks the justices have given Mr. Trump temporary leeway to impose travel restrictions on at least some people. In addition to suspending U.S. entry by refugees, the president has sought to bar travelers from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
Mr. Trump has said the ban, which he signed in a March executive order, is needed to help protect the U.S. from terrorist threats.
The justices on June 26 allowed the president to temporarily bar travel to the U.S. by people from the countries if they had no connection to the U.S., but it said travelers with close connections to people or organizations in the U.S. couldn’t be barred while the court considers the case more fully. CONTINUE AT SITE
When the Trump administration began implementing the Supreme Court’s guidance a few days later, the state of Hawaii, which had sued the president, argued that he was imposing the ban more strictly than the justices allowed.
Trump officials said extended family members weren’t close enough relatives to be exempt from the ban. The administration also said only a limited pool of refugees qualified for travel under the Supreme Court’s terms. The administration argued Hawaii’s interpretation of the high-court ruling would render the ban largely meaningless.
The Supreme Court will give a full review of the travel ban on Oct. 10.
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