SUPREME CT ALLOWS TRUMP A TEMPORARY AND PARTIAL TRAVEL BAN.

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

• President Trump scored a big — if temporary — win on his travel ban today, as the US Supreme Court announced it would hear arguments on the ban later this fall and, in the meantime, lifted a block the lower courts had placed on its implementation. [Vox / Dara Lind]

-- The Supreme Court agreed to review a series of lower-court rulings blocking Trump's contentious travel ban — allowing a scaled-back version of his executive order to move forward until justices can review merits of the case in the fall. Robert Barnes and Matt Zapotosky report: “The court’s unsigned order delivered a compromise neither side had asked for: It said the ban may not be enforced against those with a ‘bona fide’ connection to this country, such as family members here or an awaiting job or place in an American university. But the justices indicated that lower courts had gone too far in completely freezing Trump’s order[:] ‘The government’s interest in enforcing (the executive order) and the executive’s authority to do so, are undoubtedly at their peak when there is no tie between the foreign national and the United States,’ the court wrote...

“In the opinion, the court said it will consider the merits of the case [when] it reconvenes in October. In the meantime, the court nudged the Trump administration to get on with what it said would be a temporary pause to review vetting procedures. ‘We fully expect that the relief we grant today will permit the executive to conclude its internal work and provide adequate notice to foreign governments’ within 90 days, the court said. That means by the time the court takes the case up in the fall, circumstances could be quite different. Depending on the results of the review, Trump could push to extend the measure, or even make it permanent. And the court told lawyers to address whether the court’s consideration of the case might be moot by fall.”

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• The people primarily affected by the Court’s decision are tourists from the six majority-Muslim nations — Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen — as well as refugees. (Iraq was in Trump’s first ban but has since been cut.) The ruling will not affect foreigners coming into the US to study, teach, or work at American businesses. It also won’t impact people who are coming to stay with family members. [Vox / Dara Lind]
•  At least three of the Supreme Court justices, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and newest Court member Neil Gorsuch wrote they would have supported the ban taking full effect, with even more restrictions on travelers. [BuzzFeed / Chris Geidner]

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

 Bigger picture: The flurry of activity showcased just how conservative Gorsuch will be on the court. Reuters’ Lawrence Hurley and Andrew Chung report: “Gorsuch showed his inclination to rule from a spot occupied by fellow conservative Clarence Thomas. At a minimum, he is so far living up to Trump's claim that he would be a conservative in the mold of the man he replaced, Justice Antonin Scalia. … Liberal groups and Democratic senators had vociferously opposed Gorsuch's appointment, with the evidence so far suggesting their depiction of him as a dogged conservative was largely correct.... Conservatives are delighted. Their hope that Gorsuch, 49, would be a solid vote on the right, would appear to be well founded.”