Washington, D.C. — Today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that President Donald Trump’s bigoted Muslim ban can go into full effect. The case, Trump v. Hawaii, was an appeal of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal’s decision that stayed some parts of the ban. In response, Tom Jawetz, vice president of Immigration Policy at the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement:
Five members of the Supreme Court, including Justice Neil Gorsuch, delivered a deeply political victory to the president while making a mockery of U.S. constitutional protections for religious freedom. The court’s opinion also willfully ignores the president’s clear and consistent statements of religious bigotry on the campaign trail and during his presidency when it credits the third version of the Muslim ban as facially neutral. This ruling breaks the hearts of thousands of American families, who will remain barred from seeing their loved ones from the banned countries. Family separation continues to be a defining feature of this administration.
In response to this ruling, it is critical that we hold our values even closer. We must stand up for religious freedom and fight back against discrimination toward people of all faiths and from all countries. And we must work to hold Congress and this administration accountable for their actions, including for appointing federal judges who choose to turn their backs on our most cherished civil and human rights.
For more information or to talk to an expert, please contact Rafael Medina at [email protected] or 202-478-5313.