NEW YORK — A request by the Justice Department to immediately restore President Donald Trump's order restricting refugees and travelers to the U.S. from seven predominantly Muslim countries was shot down by a federal appeals court Saturday.
The decision came a day after a Seattle federal judge effectively halted, via a temporary stay, all aspects of the Trump order nationwide — a ruling the Trump administration was trying to undo with its request for an emergency stay (full text here).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruling means that, at least for now, all travelers and refugees from the restricted nations — Syria, Somalia, Iran, Yemen, Iraq, Libya and Sudan — can continue to enter the country with valid travel documentation, as they had before President Trump signed the controversial executive order on Jan. 27.
In its request to immediately restore the order, the Trump administration argued that the president has constitutional authority to enact the travel ban, and the Seattle federal judge's stay "second-guesses the President's national security judgment."
The San Francisco-based appeals court ruling (which you can read here) ensures that the legal fighting over the order will continue.
The New York Times reported that the Trump administration had until Monday to reply to the San Francisco court's ruling.
The Washington State attorney general who filed the lawsuit in Seattle said he had not been shocked by the government's appeal.
“President Trump’s decision to appeal comes as no surprise, and we will continue to hold him accountable to the Constitution,” Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a statement, according to Buzzfeed.
Trump, in a string of tweets, has called the order by Seattle Judge James Robart "ridiculous," among other things.
While the legal fight continues, U.S. agencies have said they are honoring the Seattle judge's nationwide halt of the travel ban, as are airlines across the world, according to reports.
Lawyers, who have been camped out at JFK trying to help travelers from the seven targeted countries since the executive order caused confusion and mass protests, confirmed to DNAinfo New York that as of Friday it appears travelers are moving through customs without issue.
The State Department has said that nationwide some 60,000 travel visas had been revoked since the executive order had been issued.
