Experts Say Trump Has Strong Position in Supreme Court’s Travel Ban Case

Reading the tea leaves of the nine justices who sit on high at the Supreme Court can be tricky, but experts told LifeZette the federal government appears to occupy firm legal ground as it prepares to defend the so-called travel ban.

The nation’s highest court will hear oral arguments from both sides Wednesday in one of the most highly anticipated cases of the term.

At issue is whether President Donald Trump has broad unilateral authority to exclude foreigners to enter the United States, as a 1952 statute suggests, or whether an executive order he issued last year amounts to an unconstitutional “Muslim ban,” as opponents contend.

“The big question is, does the court look at campaign statements? And does it grant deference to the executive?” said Josh Blackman, a professor at South Texas College of Law in Houston.

Lower courts had blocked Trump’s executive order, citing the president’s December 2015 call for a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslim immigration, along with other statements he made on the campaign trail and on Twitter.

But the Supreme Court in June ruled that the order — with some restrictions — could take effect while the case worked its way up the judicial ladder. Blackman said that is a good sign for the administration. Generally when the Supreme Court overturns a lower court’s injunction, he said, it means the justices also end up reversing the final decision.

“I’m pretty hopeful,” added Christopher Hajec, director of litigation at the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI). “Under our constitutional form of government, the decisions over who to let in and who to keep out are...Read More HERE