Princeton University joins brief to Supreme Court challenging travel ban

Princeton University and 30 other schools filed an amicus curiae brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday challenging the Trump administration’s revised order that blocks citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the United States.

The Supreme Court is scheduled  to hear oral arguments in the matter on Oct. 10. Federal appeals courts blocked the revised travel order from taking effect, but the Supreme Court ruled in June it could move forward on a limited basis.

The colleges and universities that signed on to the brief argue that the travel ban “threatens American higher education and offends important, defining principles of our country.” The schools also argue that the order threatens their ability to attract people from the six specified countries, and from around the world.

“The order contradicts the values that American colleges and universities have traditionally touted as benefits of studying and working here, including the freedom of religion and equality embodied in the First and Fourteenth amendments,” reads the brief.

The colleges and universities submitting the Supreme Court brief previously filed a brief in March with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit after the Trump administration appealed a Maryland federal judge’s injunction against the travel ban. They also submitted a brief in April with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Both of the cases are now before the Supreme Court.

Other schools that signed on to the brief: Boston University, Brandeis University, Brown University, Bucknell University, Carnegie Mellon University, Case Western Reserve University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Duke University, Emory University, George Washington University, Georgetown University, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Middlebury College, Northeastern University, Northwestern University, Rice University, Stanford University, Tufts University, University of Chicago, University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, University of Southern California, Vanderbilt University, Washington University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Yale University.