Supreme Court dismisses final case against Trump travel ban

The Supreme Court handed President Trump a victory Tuesday when it tossed out the remaining case challenging his earlier travel ban.

The court issued an order dismissing the lawsuit brought by the state of Hawaii challenging the 90-day travel ban on nationals from six majority-Muslim countries and the 120-day halt on the U.S. refugee resettlement program, claiming the case is now moot.

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Because the 90-day ban expired on Sept. 24 and the 120-day ban expired on Tuesday, the court said there is no longer a “live case or controversy.”

The Supreme Court had already largely ruled in Trump’s favor.

In June, the court reinstated the ban after it was blocked by a lower court, though it exempted people traveling to the United States who could show they had a bona fide relationship to a person to entity in the U.S. 

The court combined Hawaii’s challenge with a case brought by the International Refugee Assistance Project, but canceled the oral arguments scheduled for Oct. 10 after Trump issued new, targeted restrictions on travel from eight countries.

The court then dismissed the refugee group’s case, likely because it only challenged the 90-day ban. 

In dismissing the second case, the court said it was expressing no view on the merits. Judge Sonia Sotomayor dissented from the court order tossing out the lower court rulings. She said she would have dismissed the case as improvidently granted.

District court judges in Hawaii and Maryland have put Trump’s new, targeted restrictions on nationals from Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Chad and North Korea – as well as certain government officials from Venezuela – largely on hold.

Hawaii District Judge Derrick Watson, who stopped Trump’s previous ban, blocked all the restrictions except with respect to Venezuelan officials or immigrants from North Korea.

Maryland District Court Judge Theodore Chuang said the president could ban only individuals from North Korea, business officials from Venezuela and individuals lacking a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.

Updated: 6:03 p.m.