US court rules against Trump’s visa ban

See you in court, security of US at stake, warns Trump

Los Angeles, Feb. 10: A US court on Thursday unanimously refused to reinstate Donald Trump’s ban on refugees and nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries, dealing the new president and his controversial law-and-order agenda a major defeat.

The San Francisco federal appeals court’s ruling on Mr Trump’s executive order — issued on January 27 with no prior warning and suspended by a lower court a week later — capped a turbulent first three weeks of his presidency.

A defiant Mr Trump quickly pledged to battle on, tweeting within minutes of the decision: “SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!” “It’s a political decision,” he told reporters later.

The Justice Department had asked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to restore the measure on an emergency basis, but the three-judge panel instead maintained the suspension ordered by a federal judge in Seattle.

“We hold that the government has not shown a likelihood of success on the merits of its appeal, nor has it shown that failure to enter a stay would cause irreparable injury,” the judges ruled.

Mr Trump’s decree summarily denied entry to all refugees for 120 days, and travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days. Refugees from Syria were blocked indefinitely. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton took a jab at the President after the threejudge panel ruled against Mr Trump’s controversial travel ban.

“3-0”, the former secretary of state tweeted in apparent recognition of the 3-0 vote by the judges to uphold the block on the travel ban. — AFP