Donald Trump won a partial victory today on his Muslim travel ban:
The Supreme Court handed President Trump a victory Monday by reviving part of his disputed ban on foreign travelers from six Muslim-majority nations….The justices said the travel ban may go into effect, except for “foreign nationals who have a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States,” such as a spouse or close relative.
….”The student from the designated countries who have been admitted to the University of Hawaii have such a relationship with an American entity,” the court said. “So too would a worker who accepted an offer of employment from an American company or a lecturer invited to address an American audience.” But this would not extend to other foreigners who lack this connection.
Despite the fact that tightening up visa requirements was supposedly a critical national security concern, Trump dropped the whole thing after his travel ban was stayed by several lower courts. He’s had plenty of time to craft new vetting rules—which were supposed to take 90-120 days from February—but he’s done nothing.
The official excuse is that the courts prevented this, which is ridiculous in the way Trump’s statements are always ridiculous. There was nothing stopping him from working on new, permanent rules. But he didn’t, presumably because personal pique was more important than the supposedly porous borders that he inherited from President Obama.
With the Supreme Court rules now in place, even this thin excuse is gone. So will he restart work on new rules so he’ll be ready to go as soon as the Supreme Court gives the OK? That’s what he’d do if he really thought this was important. Let’s wait and see.
