The Supreme Court could rule within days on whether to lift a temporary stay on President Trump’s revised executive order banning travel from six mostly Muslim countries, Fox News reports.
The issue has become a major test of presidential power, especially in the area of immigration. At issue is whether the ban violates the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause of the Fifth and 14th Amendments, and the ban on nationality discrimination in the issuance of immigrant visas contained in a 65-year-old congressional law.
The Justice Department filed the ruling request with the justices late Thursday, also asking that the federal policy be enforced while the larger issues are litigated.
A federal appeals court in Virginia last month ruled against Executive Order 13769, “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States.” A majority of the 4th Circuit appeals court cited then-candidate Trump’s campaign statements proposing a ban “preventing Muslim immigration.”
The Trump administration said that ruling was flawed on several legal fronts, and asserted the president’s broad authority over immigration matters.
But groups opposing the ban were confident the Supreme Court would eventually side with them and lower courts to strike down the executive order.
There was no timetable on how quickly the Supreme Court would issue a final ruling in the case. Read more at Fox News.
{Matzav}
