The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in favor of President Donald Trump in Trump v. Hawaii, the controversial case regarding concerning Trump's September order to restrict travel to the U.S. for citizens of several majority Muslim countries.
In the 5-4 opinion penned by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court found that Trump's immigration restriction fell "squarely" within the president's authority.
The case has been central to the Trump administration's immigration policy, presenting a key test of the president's campaign promise to restrict immigration and secure America's borders.
The immigration restriction is the Trump administration's third, and affects people from Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen. Chad was dropped from the list of affected countries in April.
Previous iterations of the ban were revised after facing challenges in court.
Hawaii alleged that the immigration restriction was motivated by religious discrimination, noting that a majority of the countries included in the ban have primarily Muslim populations. During oral argument in April, Neil Katyal, attorney for the challengers in the case, cited Trump's post-election tweets about the case, and argued that the travel restriction amounted to a "Muslim ban."
The government argued that "it would be the most ineffective Muslim ban that one could possibly imagine."
"Not only does it exclude the vast majority of the Muslim world, it also omits three Muslim-majority countries that were covered by past orders, including Iraq, Chad, and Sudan," Noel Francisco, the solicitor general, told the court.
Among the tweets at issue in the case is one from September in which the president wrote that the "travel ban into the United States should be far larger, tougher and more specific-but stupidly, that would not be politically correct!"
Katyal also cited Trump's retweeting of what Katyal called "virulent anti-Muslim videos" in November of last year. The videos had titles such as "Muslim migrant beats up Dutch boy on crutches!" and "Muslim Destroys a Statue of Virgin Mary!"
The president has said that the ban is not about Islam.
"This is not about religion—this is about terror and keeping our country safe," the president said in January, after facing criticism over the first iteration of the order.
That initial order, signed in the first weeks of the Trump administration, led to days of protests around the country, with thousands gathering at airports to demonstrate.
In the 5-4 opinion penned by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court found that Trump's immigration restriction fell "squarely" within the president's authority.
The case has been central to the Trump administration's immigration policy, presenting a key test of the president's campaign promise to restrict immigration and secure America's borders.
The immigration restriction is the Trump administration's third, and affects people from Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen. Chad was dropped from the list of affected countries in April.
Previous iterations of the ban were revised after facing challenges in court.
Hawaii alleged that the immigration restriction was motivated by religious discrimination, noting that a majority of the countries included in the ban have primarily Muslim populations. During oral argument in April, Neil Katyal, attorney for the challengers in the case, cited Trump's post-election tweets about the case, and argued that the travel restriction amounted to a "Muslim ban."
The government argued that "it would be the most ineffective Muslim ban that one could possibly imagine."
"Not only does it exclude the vast majority of the Muslim world, it also omits three Muslim-majority countries that were covered by past orders, including Iraq, Chad, and Sudan," Noel Francisco, the solicitor general, told the court.
Among the tweets at issue in the case is one from September in which the president wrote that the "travel ban into the United States should be far larger, tougher and more specific-but stupidly, that would not be politically correct!"
Katyal also cited Trump's retweeting of what Katyal called "virulent anti-Muslim videos" in November of last year. The videos had titles such as "Muslim migrant beats up Dutch boy on crutches!" and "Muslim Destroys a Statue of Virgin Mary!"
The president has said that the ban is not about Islam.
"This is not about religion—this is about terror and keeping our country safe," the president said in January, after facing criticism over the first iteration of the order.
That initial order, signed in the first weeks of the Trump administration, led to days of protests around the country, with thousands gathering at airports to demonstrate.
