Court hands immigration wins to Trump
Justices rule on Hawaii gun law, roundup suits
By Maureen Groppe
Bart Jansen
and Aisha Bagchi
UA Today
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court handed President Donald Trump a pair of immigration victories on one of its final decision days of the term by allowing him to turn back asylum-seekers at the southern border and to immediately halt temporary protection from deportation for some Syrians and Haitians.
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Another ruling announced June 25 [2026] struck down Hawaii's law requiring permission to bring a firearm into a business. And the justices blocked thousands of lawsuits against the weed killer Roundup.
..... The decision on Temporary Protected Status for Haitians and Syrians gives the Trump administration a free hand to curtail a humanitarian program \that's a;allowed hundreds of thousands of immigrants from dangerous counties to temporarily live and work in the United States. The case was also a test of executive power and the deference the court traditionally gives presidents on immigration and foreign policy.
..... though not technically a final ruling, the 6-3 decision along ideological lines lets the administration life deportations protections as they're being challenged.
..... Getting rid of the programs is a significant part of Trump's hard-line approach to immigrant. Since he returned to office, his administration has moved to end protections for immigrants from the vast majority of the 17 countries that earlier administration declared unsafe.
..... The administrations declared that the law creating the TPS program bars judicial review "of any determination" about whether migrants may live and work in the United States.
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The majority agreed the language means judges cannot get involved. "this text is clear, and its plan meaning is very broad," Justice Samuel Alito wrote.
..... The Haitians' case involved he separate issue of whether ending protections for those foreign citizens was racially motivated. Trump has repeatedly maligned Haitian immigrants.
..... Alito said none of the comments from Trump or the Homeland Security Department was "overly racial, and in substance all expressed policy views that could rest on race-neutral justifications." It's not enough, he said, that "political discourse by prominent public figures is increasingly coached in terms that would have scandalized the pubic just a short time ago."
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The NAACP blasted the decision, Calling it "devastating."
..... The Supreme Court previously allowed the administration to move forward with pans to lift protections for more than 300,000 Venezuelans.
..... TPS renewal deadlines for other countries will be triggered in the coming months.
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In the second immigration decision, the Supreme Court ruled the federal government may systematically turn back asylum-seekers along the border with Mexico, a previous migrant management practice the Trump administration may want to bring back.
..... The court said federal law doesn't require the government to consider an asylum claim form a migrant who has barred from setting foot on U.S. soil.
..... The 1986 Immigration and Nationality act allows anyone "who is physically present in the United States or who arrives in the United States" to apply for asylum.
..... Limiting the number of people who can claim asylum each day, a policy often called "metering," was sued by Democratic and Republican administrations before bring rescinded by the Biden administration.
...... The Trump administration wanted to keep metering as an option.
..... Thirteen asylum-seekers and an immigrant rights group challenged the practice. an appellate court sided with them, saying the term "arrives in" includes "those who encounter officials at the border, whichever side of the border they are standing on."
..... The court's conservative majority said in a 6-3 decision the appellate interpretation defied he plain text of the law.
..... "A running back does not arrive in the end zone when he reaches the 1-yard line," Alito wrote.
..... Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in dissent that the interpenetration doesn't make sense when it comes to asylum. She compared the situation to a movie theater policy that says anyone who "arrives in" the theater may buy a ticket,and all tickets must be scanned before entering.
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As a result of the decision, she wrote, "more people will die."
..... Alito took issue with Sotomayor's dissent, which she rad from the bench to emphasize her opposition. He pointed out that the metering policy did not start with the current administration.
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The Supreme Court also on June 25 [2026] ruled that the manufacturer of the weed killer Roundup can't be sued for failing to warn hat the popular product might cause cancer.
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Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the 7-2 majority that John Durnell, who won $1.25 million in his lawsuit, couldn't bring a "failure-o-warn" lawsuit against Monsanto under Missouri law because the Environmental Protection Agency hasn't required a cancer warning for Roundup and has repeatedly likely to cause cancer.
..... The ruling rejects a role for state laws if federal protections fall short.
..... Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson disagreed, writing for herself and Justice Neil Gorsuch that the decision "departs from the near unanimous view of the many state and federal courts" about whether federal law trumps state law in this case.
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And in a significant setback for gun control advocates, the Supreme Court struck down a Hawaii law that said gun owners with concealed carry permits can't take guns onto private property that's open to the public - places like restaurants or parking lots - without the property opener's permission.
..... Property owners have always had the ability to restrict weapons. But Hawaii and other states flipped the default, prohibiting guns unless an owner gives express permission rather than allowing guns unless they're expressly prohibited.
..... The 6-3 ruling from an ideologically divided court came four years after the court dramatically expanded the right to bear mams outside the home.
..... Pending Supreme Court decisions could redefine presidential appointment powers, change election rules before the congressional midterms and change what it takes to be a U.S. citizen.