legal historians will look back on this and criticize the opposition for politicizing the argument.

it was never a muslim ban, and the idea that it was was playing politics with something that should have been opposed more strenuously. and, i'll flip this around: the reason i couldn't support it was because it wasn't a muslim ban. i'd be perfectly ok with telling radical muslims from specific unstable reasons that they're not allowed in the country. the problem with the legislation is that it also extends to atheists, jews, christians and others that may be trying to flee muslim extremism, in countries were apostasy can be a death sentence.

the opposition should have accepted the administration's argument at face value, and challenged whether it's likely to be effective. but, while that may have been a better legal argument, it would have been a much weaker political one. so, it would have led to less coverage and less fundraising and less rallying - or at least it would within a certain segment of the population that notably does not include independents or swing voters.

this outcome of playing politics with a serious legal question is pretty much a catastrophe. they lost the case - which means all these non-muslims are going to be stuck in these muslim countries, now, and face persecution for their (non)-beliefs, there. moderate & atheistic university students, many of them women, are going to be sent to rot in the fucking madrassas. on top of that, the administration is going to effectively skew the opposition as a bunch of backwards muslim-huggers, and that's a bad narrative for the voters that democrats need to win to hold seats. so, they're going to lose the political battle, along with the legal one.

to an extent, they walked right into his trap by allowing him to control the narrative. they should have challenged the premise. and - like stephen harper - this victory is not a function of the despot's brilliance, but of the opposition's weakness.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/us-supreme-court-ruling-trump-travel-1.4722234