United States

The Supreme Court decision upholding the travel ban, its ruling on Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, No. 16-1466, and the retirement of Anthony Kennedy

Trump’s determination to secure the country’s borders received a shot in the arm later in June from the Supreme Court, which ruled 5–4 to uphold a third version of the travel ban that restricted entry into the United States for citizens of Iran, North Korea, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, and Venezuela. The Court ruled that the ban was within the constitutional scope of presidential authority and that Trump’s inflammatory remarks during the election campaign regarding the threat posed by Muslims to the American people did not undermine that authority.

The Court also dealt a blow to organized labour with its 5–4 decision in June on Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, No. 16-1466, which overturned the precedent established in a 1977 decision and found that public-sector employees who chose not to join unions could not be required to pay fees to support collective bargaining.

The Supreme Court was on the mind of many Americans at the end of June when Justice Anthony Kennedy, who had so often acted as the swing vote between the Court’s conservative and liberal factions, announced his intention to retire. Naming his replacement offered Trump the opportunity to tip the Court’s ideological balance toward conservatism for a generation. The president had come into office promising to name to the bench judges who would overturn Roe v. Wade, and so it seemed certain that Senate Democrats would to try to determine the nominee’s stance on that politically pivotal case. When conservative District of Columbia Court of Appeals Judge Brett Kavanaugh was named the nominee, however, some of the attention shifted to writing by Kavanaugh in which he had expressed doubts regarding whether a sitting president should be criminally investigated or prosecuted.