The Key Word for Travel Ban Is 'Animus'

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has been asked to consider President Donald Trump’s travel ban, there’s one word you need to focus on: animus. In legalese, it means an illegitimate prejudice. It was the key to the lower court decisions freezing the ban. And it’s one of the master concepts in swing voter Justice Anthony Kennedy’s jurisprudence. You might even say that animus is the opposite side of the coin to Kennedy’s other great master concept, dignity.

If Kennedy reads Trump’s executive order temporarily blocking immigration from six predominantly Muslim countries as an exercise of anti-Muslim animus, the ban will fall at the court. And that seems highly likely, given that it would be difficult for the justice to downplay Trump’s prejudice without betraying his own legacy.