Supreme Court dismisses travel ban appeal, vacates 9th Circuit ruling

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the second and last challenge to President Donald J. Trump’s travel ban after the executive order expired, vacating a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling against the federal government.

The March order was replaced in late September by new travel sanctions with broader restrictions against several predominantly Muslim countries where terrorism is prevalent. The new sanctions have already been blocked by federal district judges in Hawaii and Maryland.

The justices ruled that they would not hear arguments brought by Hawaii against the previous order as they await new appeals against the order issued in September.

“We express no views on the merits,” the court said in a short ruling. Trump et al. v. Hawaii et al., 16-540 (U.S. Sup. Ct. Oct. 24, 2017).

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The justices also vacated lower court rulings concerning the September order and sent the case back to the 9th Circuit, eliminating its decision that Trump exceeded his authority.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, saying she would have dismissed the case and upheld the appellate court ruling.

U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson of Hawaii relied heavily on the precedent set by the 9th Circuit’s decision to block most of Trump’s latest version of the travel ban.

The administration may revisit Watson’s ruling now that the appeal has been remanded.

“Vacating it means it no longer has any legal validity,” said Kevin Johnson, dean of the UC Davis School of Law and an expert on immigration law. “You can’t really rely on the appeal now to strike down the latest version of the travel ban. It really kind of puts us back to where we were.”

The newest travel ban has not worked its way up to the 9th Circuit yet but is expected to do so — with a new panel of judges.

“I think that the latest executive order is going to make its way up to the courts and to the Supreme Court eventually,” Johnson said. “What’s happened so far, the court’s been willing to vacate rulings when no longer in effect. I guess you could envision a new executive order coming down if this one doesn’t proceed how they want it to.”