US appeals court weighs Trump’s travel ban after tough scrutiny
President defends immigration order, says courts seem ‘so political’
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A federal appeals court was expected to rule on US President Donald Trump’s travel ban on people from seven Muslim-majority countries as soon as Wednesday, one day after questioning whether the order unfairly targeted people over their religion.
The temporary ban faced tough scrutiny on Tuesday by a three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which is weighing a challenge to the order.
During a more than onehour oral argument, the panel pressed a government lawyer over whether the Trump administration’s national security argument was backed by evidence that people from the seven countries posed a danger.
Judge Richard Clifton, a George W. Bush appointee, posed equally tough questions for a lawyer representing Minnesota and Washington states, which are challenging the ban. Clifton asked if a Seattle judge’s suspension of Trump’s policy was “overbroad.”
The 9th Circuit said at the end of Tuesday’s session that it would issue a ruling as soon as possible. The court earlier had said it would probably WILLIAM BUTKUS joins protesters outside the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals courthouse in San Francisco on Tuesday, after the court heard arguments regarding President Donald Trump’s temporary travel ban on people from seven Muslim-majority countries. rule this week. Ultimately the matter is likely to go to the US Supreme Court.
The appeals court is looking, however, at whether the Seattle court had the grounds to halt Trump’s ban, while the case challenging the underlying order proceeds.
Trump’s January 27 order barred travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering for 90 days and all refugees for 120 days, except those from Syria, whom he would ban indefinitely.
Trump, who took office on January 20, has defended the measure as necessary for national security.
“I don’t ever want to call a court biased, so I won’t call it biased,” Trump said Wednesday, “and we haven’t had a decision yet. But courts seem to be so political, and it would be so great for our justice system if they would be able to read the statement and do what’s right. And that has to do with the security of our country.”
The order, the most divisive act of Trump’s young presidency, sparked protests and chaos at US and overseas airports. Opponents also assailed it as discriminatory against Muslims, in violation of the US Constitution and applicable laws.
A federal judge in Seattle suspended the order last Friday, and many travelers who had been waylaid by the ban quickly moved to travel to the United States while the situation was in limbo.
Trump was criticized for later questioning the “so-called judge,” and on Wednesday tweeted: “If the US does not win this case as it so obviously should, we can never have the security and safety to which we are entitled. Politics!”
The legal fight ultimately centers on how much power a president has to decide who cannot enter the United States and whether the order violates a provision of the US Constitution that prohibits laws favoring one religion over another, along with relevant discrimination laws.