Supreme Court hands Trump victories in immigration cases
The Supreme Court handed the Trump administration two major immigration-related victories, ruling that officials can turn away migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border and that the administration can cancel temporary humanitarian protections for Haitian and Syrian refugees lawfully residing in the United States.
The rulings were among several major cases decided Thursday as the court races toward the end of its current term. However, it is still preparing rulings on issues including whether President Donald Trump had the legal authority to abolish so-called birthright citizenship and whether he can fire officials from independent federal agencies without cause.
In the asylum case, the court said the administration could continue its policy of preventing migrants from crossing into the U.S., where they could seek protection from persecution in their home countries. The court was split 6-3, with conservative justices on one side and the liberal wing, made up of Democratic appointees, on the other.
The 6-3 ruling on Haitian and Syrian refugees could allow the government to deport hundreds of thousands of people who have legally lived in the U.S. for years, even during periods of turmoil in their home countries. It might also allow the expulsion of refugees from other countries deemed unsafe.
Roundup cancer cases blocked
The court ruled that thousands of civil cases against Monsanto alleging that its weedkiller, Roundup, needs a warning label stating it could cause cancer will not be able to proceed.
The 7-2 decision in favor of Monsanto, owned by Bayer, relied on technical issues, concluding that a federal law does not allow cancer victims and survivors to sue Monsanto in state courts, where most of the suits were filed.
The majority opinion, written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, said the plaintiff, a Missouri man named John Durnell, contended that both state and federal laws require manufacturers to issue health warnings about dangerous products.
“But that argument,” Kavanaugh wrote, “operates at far too high a level of generality” and disregards federal labeling provisions.
Monsanto denies that Roundup causes cancer. However, the weedkiller is banned in some nations, such as Brazil, Austria, Australia and Bahrain.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
