White House Calls SCOTUS Travel Ban Decision 'A Clear Victory'
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- The United States Supreme Court has reinstated most of President Donald Trump's travel ban on citizens from six mostly-Muslim nations as it agreed to hear his administration's appeals.
The Supreme Court adjourned for the summer but not before it announced it will review Trump's travel ban.
The high court announced it will review the ban and allow the Trump administration to mostly enforce the president's executive order while the legal battle continues.
"The court would only have granted this stay, allowed most of the ban to go into place if it thinks that the government is likely to succeed," said Ilya Shapiro, Editor-In-Chief of the Cato Supreme Court Review.
The 90-day ban would apply to citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen - countries the Trump administration calls "terror-prone."
Those people will not be allowed to come into the United States unless they have a "credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States."
"Unless you have some sort of contacts with the United States, a relative, a business relationship, certain other things that qualify for that, you are, if you are from one of those six countries, you will be stopped from entering the country," said Shapiro.
The justices are also allowing a 120-day ban on refugees to go into effect on a limited basis.
Three of the court's conservative justices – Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Samuel Alito and the newest Justice Neil Gorsuch said they would have permitted the entire ban to take effect - without exceptions.
The Trump administration said the ban was needed during an internal review of the screening procedures for people of those countries.
South Florida travelers are processing what the new travel restrictions mean for them.
There are a wide range of opinions on the new Supreme Court ruling.
Claudia Glass, who was catching a flight at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood international Airport, told us she disagrees with the ban and didn't feel it makes traveling any safer.
But traveler Sam Hastings says he felt it could make flying safer,
Hastings said the revised ruling, which the Supreme Court considered, was narrower in scope than the original issued by the president when he first started his term.
Since south Florida has fewer flights from the Middle East, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said she didn't believe the ban will have as big an impact here.
She called the ruling a victory for the Trump administration but said it's unknown whether it will have any effect on terrorism.
The Council On American-Islamic Relations in South Florida (CAIR) issued a statement, which reads:
The Supreme Court's order, in allowing any part of the Executive Order to take effect, ignores the Islamophobic origins of such policy and further emboldens active Islamophobes in the Trump administration. The origin of the travel ban is a desire to implement a Muslim ban. CAIR-Florida continues to work with the rest of the CAIR Federation chapters and our civil rights partners to offer a legal and legislative response to this policy.
–Wilfredo Amr Ruiz, CAIR Florida Communications Director
The travel bans sparked massive protests and lawsuits but the Supreme Court said the lower courts that blocked the travel policy went too far in limiting the president's authority. While the original travel ban led to protests at South Florida airports, there were no demonstrations Monday.
In a statement the White House called the Supreme Court decision "a clear victory for our national security."
While on the White House's South Lawn Monday, President Trump said he feels "very good" about the Supreme Court's decision.
The court said it will hear arguments in the case in October when it reconvenes.
President Trump said last week that the ban would take effect 72 hours after being cleared by the courts.
The Department of Homeland Security said it will consult with the State and Justice Department and then provide details on how the executive order will be implemented.
A Yemeni government official, along with refugee groups, have expressed disappointment in the Supreme Court decision.
