Unanimous Supreme Court reinstates anti-Muslim travel ban
By
Tom Carter
27 June 2017
On Monday, the United States Supreme Court voted 9-0 to allow portions of President Donald Trump’s anti-Muslim travel ban to go into effect. Seventy-two years after the Supreme Court’s infamous 1944 Korematsu decision upholding internment camps, curfews and military exclusion orders targeting people of Japanese ancestry, the court is once again authorizing state discrimination based on nationality.
“Very grateful for the 9-0 decision from the US Supreme Court,” Trump promptly gloated on Twitter. “We must keep America SAFE!”
During his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump declared that he would impose a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” He signed a presidential decree shortly after taking office that temporarily banned travel from seven Muslim-majority countries: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Iraq and Yemen. This executive order was later “watered down” to exclude several of its more provocative provisions, such as official discrimination in favor of Christian refugees, and to lift the ban in relation to Iraq.
The announcement of the anti-Muslim ban prompted major demonstrations at airports across the country, with protesters cheering fiercely when each traveler or refugee made it past the immigration authorities. Despite the use of the indistinct phrase “travel ban” in the media, the executive orders are broadly understood—by supporters as well as opponents—to be motivated by anti-Muslim bigotry. According to recent polls, a clear majority of Americans oppose the ban.
Lower federal courts quickly entered various emergency orders blocking parts of the ban from going into effect before its constitutionality could be…