Supreme Court dismisses second of two cases challenging Trump's second travel ban
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The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed as moot the second pending case challenging President Donald Trump’s travel ban.
The court dismissed (PDF) a case filed by the state of Hawaii that had challenged the second version of the travel ban, which has since expired and been partly replaced with a third travel ban, report the New York Times and Politico. The court also vacated the decision in the case by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at San Francisco; Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented from the decision to vacate.
The Times described the dismissal as mostly amounting to “judicial housekeeping.” But the decision to vacate could lead the Department of Justice to seek to revisit a nationwide injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson that mostly blocked the third version of the travel ban. Watson “relied heavily” on the 9th Circuit decision, according to the Times.
The dismissed Supreme Court case had challenged the second ban’s travel from six Muslim-majority countries, as well as its suspension of the refugee program. The ban on travel from the six countries expired Sept. 24 and was replaced with a third travel ban. The suspension of refugee travel expired Oct. 24.
The Supreme Court had dismissed the other pending travel ban case, a challenge by the International Refugee Assistance Project, on Oct. 10. That case had challenged the ban on travel from six Muslim-majority countries but not the refugee restrictions. The Supreme Court also vacated the appellate decision in that case by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Richmond, Virginia.
