On Monday, the US Supreme Court partially revived President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban, agreeing to hear arguments in October and allowing the administration to suspend travel for some foreign nationals and refugees until it decides the case. Trump immediately took to Twitter to declare triumph, but many travellers he hoped to ban can still enter the US, claiming their own victory.

And the Court has not reached the merits of the case that pits executive power on issues of immigration and national security against prohibitions on religious discrimination. That, along with a host of other legal issues, are weighty determinations the Court may be eager to avoid.

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The orders ignited a firestorm of outrage at the logic underpinning the ban. Critics swiftly pointed out that none of the perpetrators of terror in the US hailed from listed countries and that the ban failed to include countries from which they originated. Others explained that the screening for refugees is already lengthy, onerous and rigorous.  And some opponents argued that the order actually harms national security, as Stanford Law School’s Shirin Sinnar notes, “by alienating partners, diminishing international trust in the United States and feeding extremist narratives that the United States is at war with Islam”.