Feds File Emergency Applications to Reinstate Travel Ban

President Trump has turned to the nation's highest court to keep his travel ban alive. The administration filed emergency applications late Thursday with the US Supreme Court to reinstate the temporary ban on travelers from six Muslim-majority countries, reports Reuters. The ban has been repeatedly slapped down by other courts, most recently by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, which said it suspected the ban was an attempt by Trump to bring in the unconstitutional Muslim ban he spoke of on the campaign trail. If the court decides to grant the emergency requests, the ban could be reinstated immediately.

The decision on whether to lift the injunctions against the ban could come within two weeks, with the court hearing the full case at a later date. We are "confident that President Trump's executive order is well within his lawful authority to keep the Nation safe and protect our communities from terrorism," Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said in a statement. Politico notes that a decision to reinstate the ban will require the approval of five of the court's nine justices, and the administration's claim of it being an emergency will be undercut by the fact that it has passed up several previous opportunities to turn to the Supreme Court. (More Trump travel ban stories.)