US President Donald Trump may have finally scored a legal victory after the Supreme Court lifted stays on the diluted version of the ban against people from eight countries, six of them Muslim majority nations. The top court did not explain the reasons for its decision but we know that two judges dissented before the third iteration of the ban was passed. The holiday season could be an unsatisfactory explanation. Millions of people travel to the US during the Christmas and New Year vacation, and terror threats must have weighed on the court's mind as it decided to ease the stays by lower courts. Intelligence agencies, however, have been silent on violent activity emanating from the countries in question against US interests, hence it's hard to make sense of this legal twist in a long tale where the stark themes are discrimination and religious bias. Tightening scrutiny and enhancing security procedures for travellers coming to the US would have been a better option than this sweeping ban, but law enforcement agencies in some countries are not equipped, or are unprepared to deal with threats on their soil. Lawless states cannot be expected to keep the peace - a valid argument, but when everyone knows the president's predilections, it's natural for the affected parties to cry foul.

People should to be treated with dignity and without prejudice. This ban breaks the spirit of the law and puts the rights of people in jeopardy for no fault of theirs. Their lone infraction is that they are living in countries that the US suspects are hotbeds of terror. The president has been known to make disparaging remarks against Islam and his tweets point to the workings of his mind. Last week the president retweeted false videos put out by a far-right group in Britain. There was an outcry, but the president was stubbornly unrepentent. The ban may now be legal but it's clear outsiders are unwelcome in the US - people who Trump doesn't think are American. Terror is a convenient excuse.


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