Supreme Court Sides With Trump Administration's Request to Continue Banning Refugees

The Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration’s request to ban most refugees from entering the U.S. under its travel ban on Tuesday. Last week, an appeals court ruled that refugees with sponsorship from resettlement groups were exempt from President Trump’s travel ban.

While the Court will hear oral arguments on the travel ban’s legality later this fall, its ruling will impact 24,000 of the world’s most vulnerable people, as CNN noted.

Supreme Court justices didn’t provide much of an explanation for the stay. In a single paragraph, the Court cited Justice Anthony Kennedy’s temporary ruling in the case as precedent for its decision:

The application for stay of mandate presented to Justice Kennedy and by him referred to the Court is granted, and the issuance of the mandate of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in case No. 17-16426 is stayed with respect to refugees covered by a formal assurance, pending further order of this Court.

The Justice Department declined to appeal the Ninth Court’s ruling that grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews were exempt from the 90-day travel ban.

President Trump’s attempt to ban travelers from Somalia, Sudan, Iran, Libya, Syria, and the Sudan, has incurred legal defeat after legal defeat — culminating in the Supreme Court’s acceptance of the case. Arguments assessing the legality of Trump’s ban will be heard by the Supreme Court beginning on Oct. 10.