The Supreme Court Unanimously Revives the Travel Ban and Restores the “Presumption of Regularity”

June 26th, 2017

Today, all nine Justices agreed that President Trump’s travel ban should be allowed to go into effect, in part. Three Justices–Thomas, Alito, and Gorusch–would have allowed the entire travel ban to go into effect. The Supreme Court did what the lower court judges would not–treat President Trump like any other President with the “presumption of regularity.” The Justices did not delve into the President’s twitter account, nor did they parse his campaign statements. Instead, they stressed the “Government’s compelling need to provide for the Nation’s security.” As it stands now, President Trump can implement his travel ban with respect to aliens that do not have a sufficient connection to the United States. This will likely create some confusion–who does and does not have such a relationship–but at a minimum, the Court reaffirmed the President’s statutory and constitutionality authority to protect national security. Further, I agree with Justice Thomas that the Court, without dissent, strongly suggested that the government “is likely to succeed” when the case is argued in October. On remand, the lower courts should take the hint: afford the President the “presumption of regularity” in this case, and others.