President Trump on Tuesday celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold his controversial travel ban against Muslim-majority countries as a “profound vindication following months of hysterical commentary” from his political opponents.
“Today’s Supreme Court ruling is a tremendous victory for the American people and the Constitution,”
the president said in a statement. “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 ruling reversed a series of lower court decisions that determined the travel ban was unconstitutional, claiming it violated the Establishment Clause and religious freedom. The original version of the president’s executive order placed a 90-day ban on people seeking to immigrate to the U.S. from Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Libya, Iran, Iraq, and Yemen.
But the administration issued revised versions last year that removed Iraq from the list of banned countries and added Venezuela and North Korea — two non-Muslim majority countries. In his statement on Tuesday, Trump said the primary purpose of the ban was “to defend the national security of the United States.”
“As long as I am President, I will defend the sovereignty, safety, and security of the American People, and fight for an immigration system that serves the national interests of the United States and its citizens,” he said.
Trump also reacted to the Supreme Court decision in a brief tweet minutes after it was handed down.
“SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS TRUMP TRAVEL BAN. Wow!” the president tweeted earlier Tuesday.
[FULL OPINION: Supreme Court upholds Trump’s travel ban]
SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS TRUMP TRAVEL BAN. Wow!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2018
Justice Sonia Sotomayor cited the “The Snake,” a song that has become a staple of Trump campaign rallies, in her dissent as evidence of the president’s desire “to keep Muslims out of the country.”
“During a rally in April 2017, President Trump recited the lyrics to a song called ‘The Snake,’ a song about a woman who nurses a sick snake back to health but then is attacked by the snake, as a warning about Syrian refugees entering the country,” she wrote.
