Missouri Groups Denounce Supreme Court's Travel Ban Ruling

MISSOURI — Missouri civil rights and Islamic advocacy groups are denouncing Tuesday's Supreme Court ruling upholding President Donald Trump's travel ban that prohibits nationals from seven mostly Muslim-majority counties from entering the United States, with few exceptions.

The court voted 5-4 to uphold the third version of the ban, with the court's more conservative justices voting to overturn a lower-court ruling granting a nationwide preliminary injunction against the ban's enforcement.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations and the American Civil Liberties Union, both of which have chapters in Missouri, have challenged every version of the ban.

"Today's ruling sits alongside other shameful Supreme Court decisions allowing for Japanese internment and segregation as among the nation’s most shameful,” said CAIR-MO Executive Director Faizan Syed.

Mufti Asif Umar, a spokesperson for the Imam Council of Metropolitan St. Louis, which also opposes the ban, said he was "truly saddened" by the impact the ruling will have on Muslim families.

The majority opinion, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, said Trump's proclamation is "squarely within the scope of Presidential authority" under the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Opponents, however, argued that the president's previous statements on Muslims and their faith cast doubt on the official objective of the ban. During the 2016 campaign, Trump had called for "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States."

“Today’s ruling will go down in history as one of the Supreme Court’s failures. It echoes the Korematsu decision upholding Japanese-American imprisonment. For Missourians, it brings to mind the court’s Dred Scott decision, which failed to uphold our nation’s most basic principles of freedom and equality,” said ACLU of Missouri Executive Director Jeffrey A. Mittman. “This decision unthinkingly accepts a flimsy national security excuse for the ban instead of taking seriously the president’s own explanation for his action. It is ultimately the people of this country who will determine our nation’s character and future. The public is needed more than ever to ensure our elected officials take action to rescind and dismantle Trump’s Muslim ban.”

Feroze Dhanoa/Patch national staff contributed to this report.

Photo by Simone Wilson/Patch