In some respects, the United States Supreme Court's decision on Tuesday rejecting challenges to President Donald Trump's travel ban was highly predictable.

Mr Trump issued his series of executive orders under the authority of a breathtakingly broad statute - specifically, Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act - a provision designed to forestall national security threats. And he issued it for two plausible reasons: the proliferation of international terrorism threats against the US and the seeming inadequacy of overseas screening of would-be travellers to the US by some countries. Given this context, the decision is hardly surprising.