Hawaii scored another travel ban victory Wednesday after the U.S. Supreme Court indicated that grandparents, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and cousins are close family.
“This confirms we were right to say that the Trump administration over-reached in trying to unilaterally keep families apart from each other, in violation of the Supreme Court’s prior ruling,” state Attorney General Doug Chin said in a statement.
But the victory was not a complete one. In its order, the high court put on hold U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson’s order allowing refugees with formal assurance, pending a decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
“We are currently preparing our arguments for the 9th Circuit to resolve that issue,” Chin said.
The president’s March 6 travel ban suspended new visas from travelers from six predominantly Muslim countries — Somalia, Syria, Sudan, Yemen, Libya and Iran — and temporarily blocked refugees from entering the country.
Although Trump’s order was blocked by two different lower courts, the Supreme Court last month allowed the government to proceed with enforcement — except for travelers with a “bona fide” relationship in the U.S. and for refugees who have a “credible claim” of a relationship with a U.S. institution.
When the Trump administration excluded grandparents and other relatives from its interpretation of the directive, Hawaii filed another challenge, and Watson last week responded by not only expanding the list of family relationships needed by people seeking to enter the country from the six countries but toppling much of the refugee restrictions.
In its appeal, government attorneys said Watson went too far in regard to refugees, especially since resettlement agencies don’t establish a true relationship until after they arrive in the United States.
Three Supreme Court justices — Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch — noted in Wednesday’s order that they would have put all of Watson’s ruling on hold until the 9th Circuit has its say.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court announced Wednesday that it will hear oral arguments on the president’s travel ban on Oct. 10.
With the arguments scheduled to be heard about three-and-a-half months after the high court allowed the partial ban to go forward, expect Hawaii’s attorneys to argue in October that the issue is moot.
Chin earlier said that because Trump sold the travel ban as a temporary anti-terrorism measure while the government reviews its vetting procedures, it will have become unnecessary by
October.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson of Washington state, one of a coalition of states that also urged the Supreme Court to reject the administration’s travel ban interpretation, welcomed Wednesday’s ruling.
“The Supreme Court saw right through the Trump administration’s unconscionable attempt to keep grand
parents and grandchildren from visiting each other,” Ferguson said in a statement.
“Ask any grandparent if grandchildren should count as a ‘close familial relationship,’ and the answer will be universal. President Trump’s attempt to keep them apart is just the latest example of the callousness of the travel ban,” he said.