US court rejects bid to reinstate travel ban
Justice Department appealed a temporary block in latest dramatic twist since Trump issued his order
LOS ANGELES: A US federal appeals court early yesterday rejected a request by the Department of Justice to immediately reinstate President Donald Trump’s travel ban.
Trump’s administration had lodged the request with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals as part of an appeal against a lower court order temporarily suspending the travel ban on citizens from seven mainly Muslim countries.
For now, the travel ban suspension remains in place. Both the State and Homeland Security Departments said Saturday they were resuming normal practices concerning travellers from the affected countries.
Judge William Canby, Jr. in Phoenix and Judge Michelle Friedland in San Francisco did not give a reason for their denial in a two-paragraph ruling.
However, they told the states of Washington and Minnesota, which had filed the original suit against Trump’s travel ban, to provide documents detailing their opposition to the government’s appeal by 11.59pm Sunday ( 0759 GMT Monday).
The Department of Justice was given a deadline of 3pm Monday to supply more documents supporting its position.
The Justice Department on Saturday appealed a temporary block of the travel ban after the president unleashed a fiery tirade and those with valid visas started arriving on American soil.
It was just the latest in a series of dramatic twists since the Republican billionaire leader issued his immigration order a week ago.
On Friday, a federal judge in Washington state put a temporary stay on the measures pending a wider legal review, prompting
The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned! Donald Trump, US President
government agencies and global airlines to cease enforcing the ban.
Thousands of people from London and Paris to New York and Washington staged fresh protests against Trump, who took office on January 20 — little more than two weeks ago.
The Manhattan property mogul- turned- president, who was spending the weekend at his Mar- a-Lago vacation retreat in Florida, unloaded a barrage of angry tweets throughout the day.
He specifically targeted US District Judge James Robart – an appointee of Republican president George W Bush – in an extremely rare attack on a federal judge from a sitting president.
“The opinion of this so- called judge, which essentially takes law- enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!” Trump tweeted early in the day.
In the evening, he posted: “The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!”
Late Saturday, the Justice Department filed its motion to appeal.
“We’ll win. For the safety of the country, we’ll win,” Trump told reporters.
While the case was moved to a federal appeals court government authorities began complying with the lower court judge’s ruling, reopening the borders to those with proper travel documents.
The State Department told visa holders from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen that they are again allowed to travel as long as the documents had not been “physically cancelled.”
The department earlier said up to 60,000 people had their visas revoked as a result of Trump’s order, although a Justice Department attorney put the number at closer to 100,000.
The Department of Homeland Security – which runs border agencies – also said it would cease implementing the order.
Trump’s latest rhetorical outburst is likely to stoke the controversy.
Presidents from Thomas Jefferson to Barack Obama have criticized court rulings, but have rarely, if ever, criticized individual judges.
“I can’t think of anything like it in the past century and a half at least,” constitutional scholar and Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe told AFP.
“It’s not exactly contempt of court, but it certainly is contemptuous,” said Tribe, who taught two sitting Supreme Court justices as well as Obama – whom he later advised.
“It conveys a lack of respect for the independent judiciary that bodes ill for the country’s future as long as Trump occupies the presidency,” Tribe said. — AFP