Based on questions raised by Supreme Court justices on Wednesday during the oral arguments in Trump v. Hawaii, which concerns President Trump's ban on travelers from six majority-Muslim countries, there does not appear to be an obvious five-judge majority to strike down the ban, The Washington Post reports. Lower courts have struck down three iterations of the ban to date, claiming it improperly overrides congressional lawmaking power, engages in "nationality discrimination," and does not demonstrate that "nationality alone renders entry of this broad class of individuals a heightened security risk or that current screening processes are inadequate."
As it stands now, the ban bars travelers from seven countries, although only the Muslim-majority ones are a part of the challenge: Syria, Libya, Iran, Yemen, and Somalia (Chad was originally included in the ban but was removed from the list earlier this month). Travelers from North Korea and Venezuela are also barred under the ban. Trump had specifically called for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" when he introduced the idea in late 2015.
Conservative justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch pressed acting solicitor general Neal K. Katyal, who is representing Hawaii, on how exactly Trump has overstepped his legal grounds with the ban. Alito in particular noted that only 8 percent of the world's Muslim population would be affected by the ban, saying "a reasonable observer would not think this was a Muslim ban," The Washington Post reports. Read more about where the SCOTUS justices appear to stand on the debate here.
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