After the challenging immigration fiasco earlier this month, the Trump administration had a few victories this past week.

First, the Supreme Court upheld Trump's travel ban. Trump issued his first travel ban in January 2017, a mere week after taking office. The ban sought to halt immigration from particular countries, including Iran, North Korea, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Venezuela, and Chad on the grounds that they did not meet security clearance requirements.

The ban stirred controversy for several reasons - foremost of which is that Syria is in the midst of a civil war and humanitarian crisis that has increased the number of refugees seeking asylum in the West, and so an attempt to limit immigration from that country seemed particularly callous. The broad nature of the ban also drew criticism from those who felt that the ban, particularly when taken in combination with Trump's rhetoric on immigration during his election campaign, truly amounted to a discriminatory "Muslim ban."

The first ban resulted in legal challenges in federal courts. The Trump administration then issued a second ban, which was also challenged, before releasing the third version of the ban in September 2017. This third iteration, which kept restrictions on all the aforementioned countries except Chad, is the ban that the Supreme Court ultimately validated. Chief Justice Roberts, writing for the conservative majority, said that Trump's inflammatory statements during his campaign could not be the sole criteria for evaluating the ban, that the ban itself did not explicitly discriminate against immigrants of particular religious beliefs or ethnicities, and that it is within the scope of the president's powers to limit immigration.

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Trump touted the victory via Twitter, saying, "SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS TRUMP TRAVEL BAN. Wow!"

Then, on Wednesday, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced that he would be retiring. Justice Kennedy has been a generally centrist voice on the Supreme Court. His retirement means that Trump will now be able to appoint a second Supreme Court justice; with Republicans in control of both the House and Senate, Trump will likely not encounter significant resistance to his choice - unlike when Republicans blocked the appointment of Obama nominee Merrick Garland. It's likely that Trump will choose a young and conservative judge capable of shaping American law for decades. The retirement is so unexpected, and the benefits to the Republican Party so notable, that some have speculated that the White House pressured Kennedy to leave.

Meanwhile, Trump and Russia's President Putin are scheduled to meet in Helsinki on July 16. Trump has used this meeting as another opportunity to insist that there was no improper collusion with Russia during his election campaign.