MUSLIMS/SUPREME COURT/TRAVEL BAN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A divided Supreme Court upheld President Donald Trump’s latest ban on travel to the U.S. by people from several Muslim-majority countries, a sweeping reaffirmation of presidential authority and a victory for the White House on one of its most central—and controversial—initiatives. The court, in a 5-4 opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts, said Tuesday [6-26-18] that Mr. Trump didn’t violate federal immigration law or the Constitution last September when he put in place restrictions on U.S. entry by people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, a measure he said was necessary to protect national security because those countries don’t provide sufficient information for U.S. officials to assess whether their nationals are a threat. It was his third version of the much-debated ban, earlier iterations of which had been struck down in various parts by the courts. Chief Justice Roberts wrote that federal immigration law gave Mr. Trump wide latitude to exclude travelers from the U.S., powers that other presidents ‘have repeatedly exercised…to suspend entry on the basis of nationality.’ The court made clear it was aware of Mr. Trump’s statements about Muslims both before and after the 2016 election, and it listed many of them, including the president’s retweeting of three anti-Muslim propaganda videos and his campaign call for ‘a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.’”
-Brent Kendall and Jess Bravin, “Supreme Court Upholds Trump Travel Ban,” The Wall Street Journal, June 26, 2018 3:18 pm