President Trump is never more excited by policy than when it gives him license to bully someone. His travel ban, an executive order prohibiting travel from seven (then, after a March revision, six) predominantly Muslim countries, appears intended to assuage white supporters who harbor twisted ideas of both their racial identity and what terrorists look like. The ban not only vividly brands Muslims as extremists, but also ignores terrorist acts committed by white Americans. And the Supreme Court just gave Trump an assist.
The nine justices announced on Monday that the Court would hear arguments on the ban in October. They also stayed the lower court judgments currently blocking the ban, which means part of it will be put into effect by Thursday. There is absolutely no justification for this, governmental or moral. Besides, Trump’s original order specified a 90-day restriction on travelers from those nations and a 120-day ban on refugees who weren’t from Syria. More than 150 days into his presidency, he and the White House have had the time they needed to craft new policy to address foreign terrorism. Still, it isn't nearly the ban Trump signed in January. The measure to be reinstated later this week states that "Foreign nationals who have a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States," barred originally, will now meet the standard of entry.