BREAKING: Trump decisively wins battle of the ‘travel ban’ Executive Orders in the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of the United States has given President Trump a clearcut victory in the legal battle over his two Executive Orders.

In a unanimous decision it has ruled that the lower court Judgments imposing temporary stays on President Trump’s two Executive Orders were far too broad.

Here is how the Supreme Court’s ruling is being reported by the Washington Times

The Supreme Court said Monday that most of President Trump’s travel ban executive order can go into effect, delivering the first major victory to the new administration on perhaps his most controversial policy to date.

Justices said the lower court rulings that blocked Mr. Trump’s policy were far too broad, and said the president can begin to enforce his ban against foreigners who don’t already have some ties to the U.S……

The justices said Mr. Trump is at the peak of his powers when acting on national security concerns in immigration matters when dealing with people who don’t already have a tie to the U.S.

The court’s ruling was issued in an unsigned unanimous opinion, though Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M. Gorsuch said they would have gone further and lifted the entire injunctions.

The court scheduled the broader case as part of its next session that begins in October — but pointedly suggested Mr. Trump may have concluded his broader review of U.S. visa policies by then, so there shouldn’t be a need to hear the case at all.

According to the Washington Times the ruling means that

the president can begin denying visas to visitors from six countries — Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — who don’t already have family in the U.S., or some other prior connection such as participation in an education program. Mr. Trump is also free to halt refugee admissions worldwide, with the same exception for people who already have a connection to the U.S

I have consistently predicted that this would be the outcome of the President’s appeal to the Supreme Court.  I have never been in any real doubt that the President made the two Executive Orders within his constitutional powers.  I have never seen anything racially discriminatory in the language of either Executive Order, whilst the second Executive Order seems to go out of its way to make clear that its intention is not racially discriminatory.

The Judgments of the federal courts which have imposed nationwide stays on the two Executive Orders have always appeared to me to be based upon attempts to go behind the language of the two Executive Orders by reading intentions into them which are not there.   As such it has always seemed to me that these were essentially political Judgments, and were not law based.

I have not read the actual Judgment of the Supreme Court but judging from the Washington Times report that too is also its opinion.  The fact that the Supreme Court’s Judgment has been both swift and unanimous should put to rest any idea that this is a partisan decision.

There will no doubt be further legal moves in relation to the two Executive Orders over the next few months, but the President has decisively won the battle on constitutional principle, as I always said he would.

I will be interested to see how the mainstream media in the US – which has given far too much credence to the poorly reasoned legal arguments of the President’s opponents and of the courts which have given Judgment against him – explain the Supreme Court’s decision.