The National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) is deeply disappointed in today’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding the Trump administration's Muslim ban.

NIJC Litigation Director Chuck Roth offered the following reaction and analysis:

“It is a shameful day to be an American. The majority of the U.S. Supreme Court considered the Trump administration’s xenophobic policies blocking visitors from predominantly Muslim countries, and swallowed the government’s rationalizations hook, line, and sinker. It refused to look behind the official government-speak to what was really going on—a policy of animus toward Muslims and a practice of operationalizing the spurious decisions of the president.

“It is ironic that today’s decision finally overturns Korematsu, that notorious decision which permitted the internment of citizens of Japanese ancestry during World War II. The issues are of course distinct, but the similarities are clear. Korematsu, like the Muslim ban, was premised on animus, shielded behind weak national security rationalizations, and rationalized by the Court in a decision which, we now know, did not stand the test of time. Future generations will not look kindly on today’s shameful abdication regarding the Muslim ban.

“There was one silver lining in today’s decision. The Court did not adopt the government’s attempts to limit judicial review over the ban, allowing full statutory review over the ban’s legality, finding that U.S. citizens have standing to challenge the ban, and reviewing the ban’s constitutionality. NIJC filed an amicus brief with the American Immigration Lawyers Association, represented by Sidley Austin LLP, urging that the ban is reviewable. We are glad that the Court agreed, even if we profoundly disagree with the ultimate result.”