WASHINGTON (WBAP/KLIF) – The Supreme Court has upheld President Donald Trump’s ban on travel from several mostly Muslim countries, rejecting a challenge that it discriminated against Muslims or exceeded his authority.
The 5-4 decision Tuesday is the court’s first substantive ruling on a Trump administration policy.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said he applauds the Supreme Court’s decision.
“I’m pleased but hardly surprised that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld President Trump’s travel ban. We were confident all along that the executive order on immigration is a lawful exercise of the president’s statutorily authorized executive power over foreign affairs and national security. The travel ban is a carefully crafted approach to upgrading vetting and national security procedures critical to protecting Texas and the rest of the nation from terrorism. The Constitution places decisions like that in the hands of the president and Congress, not unelected federal judges, as the Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized.”
Last year, Attorney General Paxton filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit to defend the president’s original travel ban, making Texas the only state at the time to officially support the legality of the policy. Subsequently, as many as 15 states joined Texas in a series of friend-of-the-court briefs supporting the president’s revised travel bans all the way to the Supreme Court.
(Copyright 2018 WBAP/KLIF 24/7 News. This Report Contains Material From The Associated Press.)
