Trump celebrates Supreme Court decision on travel ban

President Trump on Tuesday declared victory after the Supreme Court upheld his travel ban on several majority Muslim nations.

“SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS TRUMP TRAVEL BAN. Wow!” Trump tweeted minutes after the court handed down its 5-4 decision.

SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS TRUMP TRAVEL BAN. Wow!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2018

The ruling maintains one of Trump’s core policies, which he put in place less than a week after taking office. It is also a defeat for several states and immigrant rights groups who argued that the executive order discriminates against Muslims and exceeded Trump’s presidential powers.

{mosads}Trump later called the decision a “profound vindication” in a statement issued by the White House press office.

“This ruling is also a moment of profound vindication following months of hysterical commentary from the media and Democratic politicians who refuse to do what it takes to secure our border and our country,” the president said.

During a meeting with Republican lawmakers, Trump went on to call the decision an affirmation of his hard-line immigration policies.

“We have to be tough and we have to be safe and we have to be secure,” he said. “At a minimum, we have to make sure that we vet people coming into the country, that we know who is coming in, we know where they are coming from. We just have to know who’s coming here.”

He also demanded that Congress provide him increased funding to build his long-sought-after border wall.

The court’s conservative majority ruled Trump has the authority to stop people from certain nations from entering the U.S. if he believes it is necessary to protect the country. But it did not endorse the president’s statements or make a policy judgment on the order itself.

“We express no view on the soundness of the policy,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his majority opinion.

Lower courts had struck down several versions of the travel ban, frustrating Trump and many administration officials. The original ban set off chaos at airports around the country and was quickly blocked by a number of federal judges.

But administration officials were hopeful the high court would rule in their favor after justices allowed the ban to take effect while legal challenges were considered.

One of the central issues was Trump’s inflammatory statements about Muslims while he was a candidate and as president, and whether those statements could be used to argue the ban is unconstitutional.

In late 2015, Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the U.S. ”until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”

Roberts spurned that argument, writing that “the president of the United States possesses an extraordinary power to speak to his fellow citizens and on their behalf.”

“Plaintiffs argue that this president’s words strike at fundamental standards of respect and tolerance, in violation of our constitutional tradition,” Roberts continued. “But the issue before us is not whether to denounce the statements. It is instead the significance of those statements in reviewing a presidential directive, neutral on its face, addressing a matter within the core of executive responsibility.”

Updated at 1:43 p.m.