The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday set up a major showdown over presidential powers, agreeing to decide the legality of U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest travel ban targeting people from six Muslim-majority countries. The conservative-majority court is due to hear arguments in April and issue a ruling by the end of June on whether the ban violates federal immigration law or the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition on religious discrimination.
Mr. Trump’s policy, announced in September, blocks entry into the United States of most people from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.
The legal fight involves the third version of a contentious policy Mr. Trump first sought to implement a week after taking office in January 2017.
Upheld in December
The Supreme Court, which is tackling a series of consequential cases during its current term, signalled on December 4 that it was likely to uphold the policy.
After lower courts had partially blocked it, the Supreme Court on a 7-2 vote let the ban go into full effect while legal challenges by the State of Hawaii and others continued.
“We are confident the Supreme Court will ultimately uphold the President’s lawful and necessary action to keep the American people safe and enforce these important security standards for entry into the United States,” said Raj Shah, a White House spokesman.
