People on the right are swooning while leftists' heads are exploding over the Supreme Court's decision to allow full enforcement of Trump's travel ban. It's an enjoyable moment, to be sure, but I see no cause for celebration. For one, this order is temporary and does nothing to prevent the ongoing challenges wending their way through the lower federal courts. An even more fundamental problem is that no court has any business second-guessing a ban of this nature. No foreigner has a "right" to enter this country; we can ban entry to all foreigners, or ban entry to some foreigners rather than others (as we have done on various occasions in the past).
There is no true victory when a court happens to exercise excessive power in one's favor. The very exercise of such power is a transgression, and the power to give implies the power to take away. By celebrating this ruling today, the people on the right are tacitly conceding that they will submit to a contrary ruling tomorrow.
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