Judges hear arguments on Trump travel ban

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit heard arguments Wednesday on the latest iteration of President Donald Trump’s travel ban, pressing the government and those challenging the directive on the limits of the president’s power to implement the measure and their own authority to review his decisions.

The Supreme Court this week allowed the ban to fully take effect while the challenges proceed.

Lawyers for the state of Hawaii, which is suing over the ban, and the Justice Department, which is defending it, tried to make their case Wednesday to Michael Daly Hawkins, Ronald Gould, Richard Paez, the President Clinton-appointed judges in the 9th Circuit who are considering one of the legal challenges.

Neal Katyal, a lawyer for the challengers, argued that among the legal problems of the “unprecedented and sweeping” directive was that the president had not made findings — as the law required — that people entering from the banned countries would be detrimental to the United States.

The ban, the third version that Trump has put forward, affects various types of travelers from eight countries — Syria, Libya, Iran, Yemen, Chad, Somalia, North Korea and Venezuela. Federal judges in two states had blocked the administration from fully implementing the measure until the Supreme Court intervened this week.

Gould said the judges “will try to get an opinion out as soon as practical.”