WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court’s criteria for who can be barred from entering the United States under President Donald Trump’s travel ban may confuse the U.S. officials overseas charged with implementing it and trigger a new round of lawsuits, experts said.
People with a “bona fide relationship with a person or entity” in the United States are spared from the temporary ban affecting people from six Muslim-majority countries and all refugees that the justices on Monday allowed to go partially into effect.
“There’s no precedent for something like this that I’m aware of,” said Jeffrey Gorsky, a former legal adviser to the State Department’s Visa Office, referring to the new “bona fide” standard.
Gorsky said the standard is likely to sow confusion among U.S. consular officials who have to make visa decisions and could require another court decision to determine what constitutes a connection to the United States sufficient to allow entry.
The Supreme Court agreed to decide the legality of Trump order in its next term, which begins in October. Justice Clarence Thomas argued that the court should have granted Trump’s request to implement the travel ban in full while the legal fight continues.
“Today’s compromise will burden executive officials with the task of deciding — on peril of contempt — whether individuals from the six affected nations who wish to enter the United States have a sufficient connection to a person or entity in this country,” Thomas wrote, joined by two fellow conservative justices.