ATLANTA — The U.S. Supreme Court has canceled next month’s oral arguments concerning President Donald Trump’s travel ban, citing the new travel restrictions he issued by proclamation Sunday.
The high court isn’t disposing of the case. Rather, it is asking both sides to file briefs by Oct. 5, showing whether the case is now moot, given the new proclamation.
Meanwhile, Chad, Iran and Venezuela are reacting angrily to their inclusion on Trump’s new travel ban list. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif blasted the new directive Sunday on Twitter.
“Trump’s fake empathy for Iranians rings ever more hollow, with his new and even more offensive travel ban against such outstanding citizens,” he tweeted.
And Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called the development a form of “political and psychological terrorism,” The Associated Press reported. His Foreign Ministry issued a statement Monday saying Trump’s proclamation violates the values of the United Nations charter and international law, and is part of a continuing effort by the U.S. to oust Maduro from power.
Chad’s government, the AP reported, issued a statement expressing its incomprehension about the “official reasons for this decision; which contrasts with Chad’s constant efforts and commitments in the fight against terrorism at regional and global levels.”
Trump’s new directive restricts travel from five of the Muslim-majority nations covered by his original March 6 travel ban: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. And it adds Chad, North Korea and Venezuela. Sudan, which was on the original list, is cooperating more with the U.S. government and is no longer facing the same restrictions.
The president’s critics say his latest directive is an extension of what they derisively call his “Muslim ban.” They noted Chad is also a Muslim-majority country. And they pointed out that few North Koreans travel to the United States, while the ban on Venezuela narrowly applies to government officials and their relatives.
“What remains the same is the discriminatory core of these bans, which were always designed to ban Muslims from entering the United States,” Avideh Moussavian, a senior policy attorney at the National Immigration Law Center in Washington, told reporters in a conference call Monday.
“The attempts to distract us by adding different countries doesn’t get around that fundamental truth.”
