Carper Statement on Supreme Court Ruling on President Trump’s Muslim Ban

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), a senior member of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, released the following statement regarding the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision to uphold President Trump’s revised Executive Order banning travel from certain Muslim-majority countries.

“Today, a majority of the Supreme Court mistakenly ignored what President Trump himself has told us time and time again: that this travel ban was born out of fear and hostility toward Muslims, rather than any sort of national security strategy. 

“Let’s be very clear. Despite today’s disappointing ruling, the facts remain the same: categorically denying a group of people entry to this country on the sole basis of their religion and nationality is uninformed, un-American and unwise. Do not be fooled. This policy does not make our country safer. It hurts our alliances with other countries that have been with us on the front lines of the war against ISIS. It fuels the rhetoric of radicals and extremists around the world and strengthens their narrative that the West is waging a war against Islam. It also damages our credibility with Muslim communities in our country that we partner with every day in order to ensure extremism does not take root here at home.

“Today’s narrow ruling on the constitutionality of this ban also serves as an important reminder of a shameful chapter in the history of our Constitution and the United States Senate: the unprecedented obstruction that my Republican colleagues mounted in 2016 against Judge Merrick Garland. There was certainly no adherence to civility or regular order back then. And now, the consequences of that despicable chapter have led to many deeply flawed decisions by the Supreme Court, including discriminatory policies like the travel ban being upheld today.”