Live
Audio Only
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled it will allow a version of U.S. President Donald Trump's controversial "Muslim" travel ban to go into effect as it analyzes the complete text, according to reports Monday.
The ban on people entering the United States from six mostly Muslim countries will now apply for everyone except people who have a "credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States," the justices said in an unsigned opinion.
The Court also agreed to hear the case in the fall.
The court was expected to act on Trump's emergency request after lower courts blocked the measure.
The Supreme Court also issued the final rulings on Monday on other issues, including one on religious rights.
The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in favor of a Missouri church backed by a conservative Christian legal group, agreeing the church should not be denied public funding because of its religious status.
The church sued after being denied state taxpayer funds for a playground improvement project because of a Missouri constitutional provision barring state funding for religious entities.
"This Court has repeatedly confirmed that denying a generally available benefit solely on account of religious identity imposes a penalty on the free exercise of religion," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his decision.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsberg were the two dissenting votes.
Justice Sotomayor wrote "The Court today blinds itself to the outcome this history requires and leads us instead to a place where separation of church and state is a constitutional slogan, not a constitutional commitment."
In an unexpected ruling, the Supreme Court sent back the case of a Mexican teenager shot dead by a U.S. Border Patrol agent to a lower court.
The teenager was killed while standing on Mexican soil in Texas. The plaintiffs were suing for civil rights violations.
The court also is set to decide a case that could clarify the criminal acts for which legal immigrants may be deported.
A dispute over whether immigrants detained by the U.S. government for more than six months while deportation proceedings unfold should be able to request their release will also receive a ruling.
The case takes on additional significance with Trump ratcheting up immigration enforcement, placing more people in detention awaiting deportation.
The decisions come amid talk that swing voter Justice Anthony Kennedy is considering retirement.
Although there are no firm indications that Kennedy, 81 in July, will step down, some of his former law clerks have said he is considering it. Any announcement would come after the court has finished issuing its final rulings.
If Kennedy were to retire, Trump would have a historic opportunity to recast the court in a more conservative posture, possibly for decades to come. He has already appointed one conservative justice, Neil Gorsuch. But Gorsuch replaced a conservative, Justice Antonin Scalia who died last year. Replacing Kennedy, the swing vote for the last decade on the closely divided court, would be more significant. Kennedy has sided with the court's four liberals on some major issues, most notably LGBTQ rights.
Speaking on ABC's "This Week" Sunday, Kellyanne Conway, a Trump adviser, declined to say if there has been any communication between the White House and Kennedy.
Newsletter
