In an Order (
full text) issued yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed as moot
Trump v. International Refugee Assistance Project, the challenge to President Trump's second travel ban. As explained by a
USA Today report:
"We express no view on the merits," the justices said in a one-page order.
The decision effectively wipes the record clean in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, one of two federal appeals courts that had struck down major portions of Trump's travel ban. That case began in Maryland.
A separate case from the 9th Circuit, based in California, remains pending because it includes a ban on refugees worldwide that won't expire until later this month. But the Supreme Court is likely to ditch that case, which began in Hawaii, as well....
Justice Sotomayor dissented, saying that instead she would dismiss the writ of certiorari as improvidently granted. This would have maintained the 4th Circuit's opinion as precedent.
