The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, reversed the lower courts and held that President Trump had the lawful authority to impose a travel ban on people seeking to enter the United States from  Iran, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Chad, North Korea and certain officials of Venezuela.  The lower courts had concluded that the ban was unconstitutional based upon all of the countries, except North Korea and Venezuela, being predominantly Muslim.  The Supreme Court concluded that the ban, which applied to only 8% of the world’s Muslim population, was facially neutral and withing the power of the president to authorize.

The Supreme Court sided with the privacy rights of cellphone users in a dispute over law enforcement tracking their movements. At issue is whether the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment requires a search warrant for the government to access a person’s cellphone location history. Chief Justice Roberts stated: “We decline to grant the state unrestricted access to a wireless carrier’s database of physical location information. The fact that such information is gathered by a third party does not make it any less deserving of Fourth Amendment protection. The Government’s acquisition of the cell-site records here was a search under that Amendment.”

Get ready for price increases for on-line purchases.  The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 opinion, ruled that states can require payment of sales tax for all on-line purchases.  Before today, a seller was only required to collect and remit sales tax if the seller had a physical presence, such as a bricks and mortar store or warehouse facility, in the buyer’s home state.

“Whatever the confluence of speech and free exercise principles might be in some cases, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission’s consideration of this case was inconsistent with the state’s obligation of religious neutrality,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote.  The decision wasn’t even close, decided on a 7-2 vote in favor of the baker.  Only Justices Ginsgurg and Sotomayor dissented.