On January 27th, 2017, President Trump signed Executive Order 1-3-7-6-9 — officially named “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States.” And protests erupted around the country.
No refugees allowed into the United States for 120 days. No Syrian refugees indefinitely. And no one from seven overwhelmingly Muslim countries allowed to enter the country for 90 days. Those countries were Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.
That first “travel ban” as it came to be known was struck down by the court system almost immediately — using the president’s own words in the campaign as the basis of their rulings.
The president and the administration vehemently denied this policy was a Muslim ban — including then Press Secretary Sean Spicer:
“There are over 40 different countries worldwide that are majority Muslim that are not affected by this order.”
They came back with a second iteration to try to appease the courts — but that too was struck down. And then a third version.
Today, the Supreme Court issued a 5-4 ruling on the third version of the travel ban. In a huge and long-awaited victory for President Trump — the court sided with the Trump administration, overturning the 9th Circuit Court’s attempt to place a hold on the ban.
Here to walk us through what this all means is Sahar Aziz, professor at Rutgers Law School.
— Listen to Sahar Aziz’s comments on June 26, 2018 on NPR’s The Takeaway here.
