Trump's travel ban faces SC reckoning

President Donald Trump's administration went before the US Supreme Court yesterday to defend the legality of his travel ban targeting people from several Muslim-majority countries, one of the most contentious actions of his presidency.

The conservative-majority, nine-member court began hearing a scheduled hour of arguments in a challenge led by the state of Hawaii to Trump's travel ban, which is the third version of a policy he first sought to implement a week after taking office in January 2017.

The policy blocks entry into the United States of most people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. Chad was on the list announced in September, but Trump removed it on April 10.

The conservative-majority, nine-member court has never heard arguments on the legal merits of the travel ban or any other major Trump immigration policy, including his move to rescind protections for young immigrants sometimes called Dreamers brought into the United States illegally as children.

It has previously acted on the Republican president's requests to undo lower court orders blocking those two policies, siding with Trump on the travel ban and opposing him on the Dreamers.

A ruling is due by the end of June.

Democratic-governed Hawaii has argued that the travel ban violates federal immigration law and the US Constitution's prohibition on the government favoring one religion over another.

The Supreme Court on Dec 4 signaled it may lean toward backing Trump when it granted on a 7-2 vote his administration's request to let the ban go into full effect while legal challenges played out.

Trump has generated controversy with his hardline immigration policies, also including actions taken against states and cities that protect illegal immigrants, intensified deportation efforts and limits on legal immigration.

Trump has said the travel ban is needed to protect the United States from terrorism by Islamic militants.