President
Donald Trump suffered a legal blow on Thursday when a federal appeals court
refused to reinstate his executive order temporarily banning people from seven
Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.
A three-judge
panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that the Trump
administration failed to offer any evidence that national security concerns
justified immediately restoring the ban, which he launched two weeks ago.
Shortly after
the court issued its 29-page ruling, Trump tweeted: "SEE YOU IN COURT, THE
SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!" He told reporters his administration
ultimately would win the case and dismissed the ruling as
"political."
The 9th
Circuit ruling, upholding last Friday's decision by U.S. District Judge James
Robart to suspend the order, does not resolve the lawsuit. It relates only to
whether to lift an emergency halt to Trump's order put in place by a lower
court.
Trump, a
Republican who took office on Jan. 20, faces long odds in getting the ban
restored while litigation over his executive order proceeds. To ultimately win,
the Justice Department will have to present evidence that people from those
countries represent a domestic threat, legal experts said.
In its ruling
on Thursday, the 9th Circuit said the government had so far failed to show that
any person from the seven countries had perpetrated a terrorist attack in the
United States.
Trump's Jan.
27 order, the most divisive action of his young presidency, sparked protests
and chaos at U.S. and overseas airports on the weekend after it was issued. It
was challenged by the states of Washington and Minnesota, which argued it
violated constitutional protections against religious discrimination.
The Justice
Department, which spoke for the administration at oral argument on Tuesday,
said it was reviewing Thursday's decision and considering its options.
Asked about
Trump's tweet, Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said: "We
have seen him in court twice, and we're two for two."
Trump says his
executive order aims to head off attacks by Islamist militants. He has voiced
frustration at the legal challenge to his order, calling Robart a
"so-called judge" whose "ridiculous" opinion
"essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country."
The 9th
Circuit judges said more legal arguments would be needed to decide the actual
fate of Trump's order.
While the
court said it could not decide whether the order discriminated against a
particular religion until the case had been “fully briefed," it added that
the states had presented evidence of “numerous statements” by the president
“about his intent to implement a ‘Muslim ban.’”
The
administration argued that the courts do not have access to the same classified
information about threats to the country that the president does. The judges
countered that “courts regularly receive classified information under seal.”
The three
judges said the states had shown that even temporary reinstatement of the ban
would cause harm.
FINAL OUTCOME
'NOT CERTAIN'
Curbing entry
to the United States as a national security measure was a central premise of
Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, originally proposed as a temporary ban on
all Muslims.
U.S.
presidents have in the past claimed sweeping powers to fight terrorism, but the
9th Circuit on Thursday wrote that courts have the authority to review whether
the president violated the Constitution.
Two of the
three 9th Circuit judges were appointees of former Democratic Presidents Jimmy
Carter and Barack Obama, and one was appointed by former Republican President
George W. Bush.
The government
has 14 days to ask the 9th Circuit to have a larger panel of judges review the
decision "en banc," or appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court,
which will likely determine the case's final outcome.
But it would
need five of the eight justices to vote in favor of suspending the travel ban
during litigation. That is likely to be a tall order as the court is evenly
divided 4-4 between liberals and conservatives, meaning the administration
would need to win over at least one of the liberal justices.
Senior White
House adviser Kellyanne Conway told Fox News: "It's an interim ruling and
we're fully confident that now that we will get our day in court and have an
opportunity to argue this on the merits we will prevail."
Asked if the
administration would go to the Supreme Court, she said: “I can't comment on
that. ... He will be conferring with the lawyers and make that decision.”
The Council on
American-Islamic Relations, the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and
advocacy organization, said Trump's policies "still pose a threat to
communities of color, religious minorities, women, and others."
Democrats, the
minority party in Congress, celebrated.
"This
Administration’s recklessness has already done significant harm to families,
and undermined our fight against terror," House Democratic leader Nancy
Pelosi said in an emailed statement.
But Tom Fitton
from the conservative group Judicial Watch said on Twitter: "The Ninth
Circuit ruling is a dangerous example of judicial overreach."
REUTERS
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