President Trump scored a massive victory on Tuesday when the Supreme Court ruled that the administration’s travel ban on counties with lax security and identity verification was legal, much to the chagrin of Democrats and the liberal media.
Despite the majority opinion declaring that the ban did not target Muslims, the liberal media continued to allude to it as such. During their evening broadcasts, ABC, CBS, and, NBC all pushed some form of frightful future for America either stemming from the Supreme Court’s decision or from the possibility of Trump getting to add another conservative justice.
From the get-go on ABC’s World News Tonight, sensationalist anchor David Muir was fearful of what the ruling meant for the future of the court. “Protesters on the steps of the high court today. Tonight, new reaction pouring into this ruling, and is this a sign of an ideological shift in the court,” he wondered before sending the report over to correspondent Terry Moran.
“In the 5-4 ruling, the sharply divided justices, reflecting the same passions this Trump policy ignited from the moment he announced it during the 2016 campaign,” Moran declared. He emphatically touted liberal justices who decried the administration’s defense of the travel ban on security grounds as nothing more than a “sham.” He gushed about how liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor spoke with a “voice filled with fury in court today.”
Moran lamented how “Sotomayor was outnumbered today and President Trump was handed his first major Supreme Court victory, which he clearly enjoyed.”
Meanwhile, on NBC Nightly News, White House correspondent Peter Alexander boasted about how Democrats were “bashing the decision as disappointing.” He elevated their fearmongering of a dark future for America stemming from the decision:
DEMOCRATIC SENATOR MAZIE HIRONO (HI): I say, who's going to be next? Is the President going to issue an executive order against Mexicans?
ALEXANDER: Keith Ellison, the first Muslim in Congress, warning the ruling should make all Americans nervous.
DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMAN KEITH ELLISON (MN): What they said is, as long as the President invokes national security, he has carte blanche to do whatever he wants to anybody.
Of course, there was no mention Ellison’s previous support for rabid anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan. But Alexander did hype Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his wife Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao getting harassed at their home this morning.
For CBS Evening News, their Supreme Court worries stemmed from the rumors that swing-vote Justice Anthony Kennedy could be retiring after the current session, which would allow President Trump to add yet another conservative justice to the bench.
“He’s kind of got a libertarian streak so he will sometimes side with liberals on social issues like gay rights,” explained Chief Legal correspondent Jan Crawford. “But with Republicans in control of the Senate, if he were to retire, his successor would keep the court solidly to the right for years to come.”
The relevant portions of the transcripts are below, click "expand" to read:
ABC's World News Tonight
June 26, 2018
6:35:54 PM EasternDAVID MUIR: We're going to turn to the other news this Tuesday night, and the major victory for President Trump. The supreme court, in a 5-4 decision today, upholding the President's controversial travel ban effecting several predominantly Muslim countries, ruling it is in the president's authority. The president at a meeting with Republican members of Congress, cheering his victory, saying, "We have to be tough, we have to be safe." Protesters on the steps of the high court today. Tonight, new reaction pouring into this ruling, and is this a sign of an ideological shift in the court? ABC's Terry Moran tonight at the Supreme Court.
[Cuts to video]
TERRY MORAN: Within minutes of the ruling, President Trump was tweeting victory. "Supreme court upholds Trump travel ban. Wow!" In the 5-4 ruling, the sharply divided justices, reflecting the same passions this Trump policy ignited from the moment he announced it during the 2016 campaign.
(…)
MORAN: It was a shocking declaration. At the Democratic convention, the Muslim father of a fallen American soldier brandished his constitution.
(…)
MORAN: The travel ban the President signed just days after taking office didn't mention Muslims, but targeted only Muslim countries.
PROTESTORS: This is what democracy looks like.
MORAN: And the outrage was instant.
(…)
MORAN: Today, the supreme court ruled on actually the third version of the travel ban -- two others blocked by lower courts -- and this one, very different in crucial ways. It was issued after a worldwide review of security procedures in different countries. It offers case-by-case waivers for some individuals, people with long business relationships or close American family members, for instance. And it barred some individuals from non-Muslim countries, North Korea and Venezuela. All that, Chief Justice Roberts wrote, “shows that this ban is a lawful, national security measure.” "The ban is expressly premised on legitimate purposes," Roberts wrote, "Preventing entry of nationals who cannot be adequately vetted."
(…)
MORAN: The administration argued it was crystal clear the travel ban did not target Muslims, pointing to what the President himself told David.
(…)
MORAN: But the liberals on the court called that a sham. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, her voice filled with fury in court today, declaring, "This new window dressing cannot conceal an unassailable fact, the words of the President and his advisers create the strong perception that the ban is contaminated by impermissible, against Islam and its followers." But Sotomayor was outnumbered today and President Trump was handed his first major supreme court victory, which he clearly enjoyed.
(…)
NBC Nightly News
June 26, 2018
7:04:14 PM Eastern(…)
LESTER HOLT: President Trump hailed the court's decision as a “tremendous victory” at the White House today. He also seized the moment to press for his proposed border wall, while another member of his cabinet got an intense confrontation in public over the separation of migrant families at the border. NBC's Peter Alexander has the story.
[Cuts to video]
(…)
PETER ALEXANDER: President tonight claiming vindication.
(…)
ALEXANDER: Mr. Trump reveling in a rare judicial win but on Capitol Hill Democrats bashing the decision as disappointing.
DEMOCRATIC SENATOR MAZIE HIRONO (HI): I say, who's going to be next? Is the President going to issue an executive order against Mexicans?
ALEXANDER: Keith Ellison, the first Muslim in Congress, warning the ruling should make all Americans nervous.
DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMAN KEITH ELLISON (MN): What they said is, as long as the President invokes national security, he has carte blanche to do whatever he wants to anybody.
ALEXANDER: Republicans rallying behind the President who initially dismissed this third version of his ban as watered down and politically correct.
(…)
ALEXANDER: Mitch McConnell's campaign today trolling political opponents by posting this photo of the Senate majority leader with Neil Gorsuch, the conservative justice picked by President Trump after McConnell blocked President Obama's nominee from getting a vote.
(…)
ALEXANDER: President Trump trying to parley the court's endorsement into a wider crackdown on illegal immigration.
(…)
ALEXANDER: That controversial stance igniting a fierce backlash and confrontations.
(…)
ALEXANDER: Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao with husband Mitch McConnell challenged by protesters Monday.
[Cuts back to live]
And that's the latest example of these heated confrontations between protesters and top Trump administration officials. And new tonight a law enforcement official tells NBC News the home of Press Secretary Sarah [Huckabee] Sanders will now be protected by the Secret Service.
(…)
CBS Evening News
June 26, 2018
6:34:01 PM Eastern(…)
JAN CRAWFORD: But for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a picture was worth 1,000 words. He tweeted an image of Justice Neil Gorsuch, who McConnell helped confirm to the court last year, and who provided the critical fifth vote for the conservative majority.
[Cuts back to live]
JEFF GLOR: Jan, there is some other very big Supreme Court speculation tonight. I want to ask you about that now. Anthony Kennedy, long a swing vote, a critical swing vote on the court, from here in California, Sacramento, there is talk about him retiring. What are your sources telling you?
CRAWFORD: Well, I mean, Justice Kennedy has said privately that he is considering retirement, but the question is: When. Even those who are closest to him tell me they don't know what he's going to do. In fact, they're boldly predicting, as they put it, that he's 50/50. He's 81 years old. He's been on the court since President Reagan nominated him 30 years ago. And he is pretty much a key swing vote as you said. He’s kind of got a libertarian streak so he will sometimes side with liberals on social issues like gay rights. But with Republicans in control of the Senate, if he were to retire, his successor would keep the court solidly to the right for years to come.
(…)
