Donald Trump asks Supreme Court to revive Muslim travel ban

US president, Donald Trump on Thursday asked the US Supreme Court to revive his temporarily ban travelers from six Muslim-majority nations after it was blocked by lower courts that found it was discriminatory. 


Following his inauguration as US president in January, Trump passed an executive order barring travelers from six Muslim majority countries including Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the US for 90 days while the U.S. government implements stricter visa screening in March.

The order was blocked by courts that found it was discriminatory but Trump’s team has now filed two emergency applications seeking to block two different lower court rulings.

“We have asked the Supreme Court to hear this important case and 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.

In deciding whether to allow the ban to go into effect, the nine justices are set to weigh whether Trump's harsh election campaign rhetoric can be used as evidence that the order was intended to discriminate against Muslims reports Reuters.
 

At least five votes are needed on the nine-justice court in order to grant a stay. If the government’s request is granted, the ban would go into effect reports the Mirror.