Supreme Court Stays Ninth Circuit Decision Limiting Scope of Suspension of Refugee Travel of "Travel Ban"

The Supreme Court of the United States stayed a decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit regarding the injunction against the implementation of parts of President Donald Trump's Executive Order 13780, colloquially known as the “travel ban.”

On appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii, the Ninth Circuit had held that President Trump's Executive Order 13780 could not be enforced against refugee applicants who are covered by a formal assurance by a refugee resettlement agency. The Supreme Court stayed this portion of the Ninth Circuit decision, meaning that refugees who are covered by such a formal assurance are not exempt from the suspension of refugee provisions pending further action by the Supreme Court. In short, this means that refugees with no connection to a person or entity in the United States other than to a refugee resettlement agency will be subject to Executive Order 13780. However, refugees with a connection to a different qualifying U.S. person or entity may be exempt subject to a case-specific inquiry.

The Supreme Court did not address the portion of the Ninth Circuit decision holding that the suspension of entry provisions against six countries does not apply to grandparents, grandchildren, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and first cousins of Americans, meaning that this portion of the lower court injunction remains in place.

Please see our full articles on the issues being considered by the Supreme Court [see article], the implementation of the initial Supreme Court decision [see article], and the suspension of entry [see article] and refugee travel [see article] portions of Executive Order 13780.