India

US Supreme Court Partially Reinstates Travel Ban, Trump Claims Victory

US Supreme Court Partially Reinstates Travel Ban, Trump Claims Victory

Donald Trump’s travel ban blocking entry of foreign nationals from six, mainly Muslim countries was partially allowed to be enforced by the Supreme Court, meaning it would take effect from Thursday. The ban, that affects citizens travelling to the US from Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, was blocked by lower courts repeatedly on grounds that it violated the constitution of the country that prohibits religious discrimination as it was widely seen as a culmination of the President’s pre-poll promise of a ban on the entry of all Muslims entering the United States in the wake of the San Bernardino shooting.

The Supreme Court order allows all persons travelling from the above mentioned countries entry into the United States only if they have documented personal, business or educational relationships to a US citizen. The personal relationships include parent, spouse, child, son or daughter-in-law, or sibling, and excludes grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, in-laws, extended family and grandchildren. The guidelines state that these ties should be demonstrably formal and should not have been forged in order to get past the ban. The ban is to stay in effect for the next 90 days, and the Supreme Court will review the ruling in October, with the ban largely done. The lawyers on both sides, however, warned that this reinstatement of the ban has left it open to a lot of challenges in lower courts and we will have to wait and see how the enactment plays out.

The court also confirmed the Trump administration’s ban on all refugees entering the United States for the next 120 days, allowing the government to refuse entry to any refugee who can not demonstrate a “bona fide relationship with an American individual or entity”.

Trump claimed victory in the wake of the temporary ruling, after months of uncertainty over the status of the travel ban. The ruling will also come as something of a reprieve for the embattled Trump administration that has struggled to get much of its promised business going. This week, Senate leader Mitch McConnell announced that the Trumpcare repeal vote has been pushed back to after the July 4 break, marking the second time the Republican majority Senate has failed to reach a consensus on a legislation that Trump has endorsed.

About the author

Shruti Bhatt

Shruti Bhatt is an engineering graduate, consumed with her passions day in and day out. An avid moviemaniac, a foodie, a bibliophile, and coffee-fashion-music enthusiast, Ms. Bhatt is on the way of becoming a raconteur - the word she is most fascinated with.