White House says law on prez’s side in travel ban fight

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court is now considering the Justice Department’s vigorous defense of President Trump’s order barring U.S. entry to people from seven Muslimmajority countries, urging the court to let it go ahead with the ban in a case that is expected to end up before the Supreme Court.

“The Executive Order is a lawful exercise of the President’s authority over the entry of aliens into the United States and the admission of refugees,” said the DOJ’s brief to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which is considering whether to lift or limit an injunction put in place by a Seattle-based federal judge last week. The Trump administration argued the ban is necessary “to permit an orderly review and revision of screening procedures to ensure that adequate standards are in place to protect against terrorist attacks.”

The brief cited the ruling last week from Bostonbased federal Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton calling such a motive “facially legitimate and bona fide.”

The government’s brief also disputed states’ authority to challenge the order and dispute the constitutional claims, noting the order applies only to nonlegal residents who aren’t granted constitutional protections in immigration.

At a minimum, the government argued, the injunction barring implementation of the rule “should be limited (to) previously admitted aliens who are temporarily abroad now or who wish to travel and return to the United States in the future.”

White House officials expressed confidence that they would win what promises to be a protracted legal fight that ends at the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Clearly the law is on the president’s side,” said White House spokesman Sean Spicer. “The Constitution’s on the president’s side.”

But in an earlier filing, Washington and Minnesota — two states challenging the president’s order — argued that the travel ban violates the Constitution and federal law, and urged the 9th Circuit to keep the injunction in place because Trump’s order poses an immediate harm to affected residents, businesses and schools.

Lifting the injunction, they argued, would “unleash chaos again.”

Attorneys general from 15 states — including Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey — as well as former Secretary of State John F. Kerry and other national security officials filed briefs and letters supporting challenges to Trump’s ban.