A controversial travel ban by the United States has been put into effect by the country's highest court.
The US Supreme Court ruled Monday to allow a revised travel ban imposed by President Donald Trump against six predominantly-Muslim countries to go forward.
In a 7-2 vote according to multiple news sources, the court says the ban can go into effect even as it faces challenges in the lower court system. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor were in favour of keeping the lower court rulings in place.
The travel ban, issued by Trump within his first couple of weeks in office, places a ban on travel to the US by people from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen, despite lower court rulings that stated that citizens of those countries who already have relations in the US could not be refused entry into the country.
The issuing of the ban by executive order brought protests from the US, Canada, and abroad.
The ban also affects people and select government officials from Venezuela as well as citizens of North Korea. Those provisions were previously implemented.
Despite the high court's ruling, two of the US Circuit Courts of Appeals will hear arguments for and against the legality of the travel ban.
Soon after the order was issued, concerns were raised locally about the ability of Canadian citizens with dual citizenship in the affected countries being able to enter the US. The US State Department had assured Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office that those citizens should have no trouble crossing into the US, and the Canadian Border Services Agency had not changed any of its policies.