Trump’s travel ban faces new challenge

WASHINGTON — After a series of stinging legal defeats, US President Donald Trump’s administration hopes to convince a federal appeals court that his travel ban targeting six-Muslim majority countries is motivated by national security, not religion.

The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals was scheduled on Monday to examine a ruling that blocks the administration from temporarily barring new visas for citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. It’s the first time an appeals court will hear arguments on the revised travel ban, which is likely destined for the US Supreme Court.

Pointing to the Republican’s promises on the campaign trail to bar Muslims from entering the United States, a federal judge in Maryland found in March that the policy appeared to be driven primarily by religious animus.

Attorneys for the US Justice Department said the court shouldn’t rely on Trump’s statements, but on the text of the policy, which they said is necessary to protect the country from terrorism. The banned countries represent just a fraction of the predominantly Muslim countries worldwide, they said.

“The court should have focused on official acts, not perceived subjective motivations,” the attorneys said.

The American Civil Liberties Union and National Immigration Law Center said Trump wants the courts to “blind themselves to the ample, public, and uncontested evidence” that the policy targets Muslims.

“The basic question in this case is whether the mountain of evidence that exists as to the

The court should have focused on official acts, not perceived subjective motivations.” Attorneys for the US Justice Department

improper motive is going to be looked at by this court or swept under the rug,” said Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project.

In an extraordinary move signifying the importance of the case, the 4th Circuit decided to bypass the three-judge panel that typically first hears appeals and go straight to the full-court hearing.

While the 4th Circuit was long considered one of the most conservative appeals courts, it moved to the center under president Barack Obama, who appointed six of the 15 active judges.

Now, nine judges are Democratic appointees and five judges are Republican appointees. Chief Judge Roger Gregory was given a recess appointment to the court by President Bill Clinton and was reappointed by president George W. Bush.

It will likely be weeks before the 4th Circuit issues a decision. And even if the court sides with Trump, the travel ban will remain blocked unless the president also wins in another appeals court.