[U] Many Former US Intelligence Officials Weigh In, On 45's Generally Goofy Supremes Gambit...

UPDATED @ 3 PM EDT: Well, the Supremes have issued their short order -- 6-3 that (as existing immigration/refugee law has provided for 50 plus years) grandparents are bona fide family. That split is probably how the entire case will play out in the fall. The matter about "bona fide relationships" has now been returned (remanded, technically speaking) to the Ninth Circuit -- where it belongs (under any normal reading of federal appellate practice rules). Onward. [Yawn -- just as I had predicted this early morning -- though FoxNews is saying some entirely. . . silly things about it all. No surprise there.] Here it is -- in full: The Government’s motion seeking clarification of our order of June 26, 2017, is denied. The District Court order modifying the preliminary injunction with respect to refugees covered by a formal assurance is stayed pending resolution of the Government’s appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Justice Thomas, Justice Alito, and Justice Gorsuch would have stayed the District Court order in its entirety. [End, update.]

Yet more news, out of the United States Supreme Court, on the ill-starred, and wrong-headed Muslim Ban 2.0, overnight:

The Supremes could -- and likely will, very shortly -- rule Mr. Trump's latest goofy USSCt moving papers out of bounds, without any opinion. Just an order. One line -- or three.

Or so "I, Condor. . ." predict (heh). The denial and remand order (to the Ninth Circuit) could come at any time today or tomorrow -- depending on how well (and where) Justice Kennedy is, in the process of caring for his injured wife, in Saltzburg, Austria. [It is already getting to be later afternoon, there, now.] And while we wait for that expected order -- here is what the able former US intel folks are on record about -- in this case, in a 23 page PDF friend of the court brief (courtesy the highly-esteemed SCOTUSBlog.com), filed overnight with the Supremes:

. . . .[The Trump Administration's] narrow interpretation of [the Supremes' cert. order] in fact would do harm to the security and foreign policy interests of the United States. As amici have explained elsewhere, the Government’s reliance on generalized bans on travelers and refugees without an individualized assessment of security threat is counterproductive from a security perspective. This generalized approach is likely to: endanger U.S. troops in the field, by barring many foreigners who have assisted our troops at great risk to their own lives; disrupt essential counterterrorism, intelligence, and other security partnerships with countries that are critical to our country’s efforts to address the threat posed by terrorist groups such as IS; feed IS’s propaganda narrative, while hindering law enforcement efforts to fight homegrown terrorism by alienating Muslim- American communities; cause serious humanitarian harm; and result in economic damage to the United States, economic sectors such as defense, technology and medicine. . . .

The Government’s narrow interpretation of this Court’s Order suffers from these same flaws. The Government would exclude from the United States any number of individuals with bona fide relationships with this country who create no security risk and would benefit the nation, simply because they are uncles rather than brothers, or have formed a relationship with one entity in the United States rather than another. This approach is at odds with the nation’s contextualized and individualized approach to screening travel to the United States. It also imposes an arbitrary travel ban upon countless individuals in ways that could do real harm to the United States’ national security or foreign policy interests.

[The individuals signing this brief] include a number of officials who have held for extended periods of time the most senior responsibility within the U.S. Government for overseeing the refugee resettlement process. . . .

I expect the Ninth Circuit will also rule against 45 pretty shortly after the regular briefing schedule, in September. Then the Supremes will see briefs, and on and on. . . Now you know -- with nothing but truly independent and free. . . happiness in store today, in sunny Chicago.

नमस्ते