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June 15 (UPI) -- The White House delayed the effective date of its revised travel ban to avoid mooting its case as the U.S. Supreme Court considers the fate of the executive order. The White House released a memorandum on Wednesday indicating the effective date of the revised travel ban, originally March 16, is now "delayed or tolled until those injunctions are lifted or stayed."
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Federal courts only have constitutional authority to resolve actual disputes that are not considered a moot case, which could be characterized as a hypothetical case.
The White House memo "should be construed to amend the executive order" and was issued "in light of questions in litigation about the effective date of the enjoined provisions and in the interest of clarity," the White House said.
ABC News reported President Donald Trump's administration submitted briefs to the Supreme Court indicating the memo's "clarification forecloses respondents' mootness argument."
The president's revised order seeks to ban travel from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for at least 90 days, and temporarily halt all refugee applications for 120 days. Trump has said that the suspensions allow much-needed time to review the nation's immigration and refugee evaluation procedures to ensure potential terrorists aren't allowed to enter the country.
The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in late May upheld a lower court ruling that blocked the implementation Trump's travel ban.
Because the 90-day travel ban was to take effect on March 16, the whole case would become moot before the Supreme Court reviews the order.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday set a new briefing schedule, meaning the highest court in the judicial branch in the coming days will decide whether to lift the temporary lower court injunction and whether to hear the Trump administration's appeal against the injunction that blocked the order's implementation.
The Supreme Court will decide whether to take the case on Wednesday.
