Justices could avoid issuing verdict on Trump travel ban

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump's travel ban offers the Supreme Court the chance to make a major pronouncement on the president's power over immigration. But the case also could vanish into the legal ether, and that may be what a majority of the court is hoping for.

Getting rid of the case would allow the justices to avoid second-guessing the president on a matter of national security or endorsing an especially controversial part of Trump's agenda.

The timetable surrounding the travel ban could make that possible.

The court will hear a challenge to the temporary pauses on visitors from six mostly Muslim countries and refugees worldwide in less than a month.

But even before that happens, the 90-day travel ban expires on Sept. 24. The refugee ban lapses a month later.