(AP photo/War Relocation Authority)
But 5-4 decision upholds Trump’s Muslim travel ban
In upholding Trump’s Muslim travel ban today, Chief Justice Roberts responded to Justice Sotomayor’s dissenting argument comparing the travel ban with the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War 2 by overruling the 1944 decision that upheld the internments and declaring, that FDR’s executive order authorizing the internments was unconstitutional.
This has ramifications. Surviving internees pursuing compensation claims can now argue their civil rights were violated. This ruling will make it harder — hopefully impossible — for any current or future president to order mass internments in the name of national security. And this also may weaken the government’s ability to detain terrorism suspects indefinitely without any kind of due process to sort the guilty from the innocent, as this ruling suggests that imprisoning someone on grounds they pose a threat to the United States requires specific acts and not just membership or association with a group.
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