Mixed bag from Supreme Court on trans ban & DACA

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is alive and apparently well and the Supreme Court is off to the races in this new term.

In two major developments at the high court this week, President Trump was dealt a setback on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and scored a win on his policy to ban transgender individuals from military service. 

In a 5-4 order, the Supreme Court didn’t actually take a stance on the legality of the ban, which Trump announced in a surprise tweet in July 2017, but allows the ban to take effect while lower courts hear arguments about its legality. The ruling was met with outcry and criticism from liberals and gay rights activists.

On the immigration front, Trump didn’t get the outcome he was hoping for, when the Supreme Court declined to hear the case over the Trump administration’s decision to wind down the Obama administration’s DACA program. The program is in the spotlight now because Trump offered last Saturday to extend temporary reprieve for young immigrants if the Democrats would vote for his $5.7 billion border wall. 

It’s a little hard to keep track of Trump’s stance on the popular protect that shields young people from deportation. He’s bashed Obama for executive overreach and tried to undo the program, but he’s also said he supports Dreamers and he’s fine leaving the program in place.

For now, Dreamers have another few months to extend their temporary status under DACA as the politics continue to play out.

But for all the excitement on the right about Kavanaugh on the court, it’s a little worrying that Trump isn’t getting the slam dunks he’d hoped for. Time will tell just how concerned we should be.