Judges reject Donald Trump’s appeal to have his travel ban immediately reinstated

Challenge: US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump attend the 60th Annual Red Cross Gala
REUTERS
Saphora Smith5 February 2017

Judges have rejected Donald Trump’s appeal to have his travel ban immediately reinstated.

Judges at the 9th US Circut Court of Appeals in San Francisco instead asked the Trump administration and the state of Washington to file more arguments by Monday morning.

The ruling comes after Mr Trump launched an appeal against a Washington state federal judge’s ruling that his refugee and immigration ban is unconstitutional on Saturday.

The US President demanded that the Seattle judge’s order be stayed pending resolution of the appeal.

Mr Trump argued that the ban is necessary "to ensure that those approved for admission do not intend to harm Americans and that they have no ties to terrorism."

But the higher court's denial of an immediate stay early on Sunday means legal battles over the ban will continue into the coming week at least.

Acting Solicitor General Noel Francisco forcefully argued in the government's brief on Saturday night that presidential authority is "largely immune from judicial control" when it comes to deciding who can enter or stay in the United States.

In the appeal the Justice Department argued it’s the “sovereign prerogative” of a president to admit or exclude “aliens” in order to protect national security.

It added that it is a “basic principle that an alien seeking initial admission to the United Sates requests a privilege and has no constitutional rights regarding his application.”

Earlier Saturday, the government officially suspended enforcement of the ban in compliance with the judge's order, which plunged the new administration into a crisis that has challenged both Mr Trump's authority and his ability to fulfill campaign promises.

That stand-down marked an extraordinary setback for the White House. Only a week ago, the president had acted to suspend America's refugee programme and halt immigration to the U.S. from seven predominately Muslim countries that the government said raise terrorism concerns.

Mr Trump’s January 27 executive order banned all immigration from Syria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

The appeal says the temporary restraining order by US District Judge James Robart in Seattle is a broad overreach of judicial authority.

"Judicial second-guessing of the President's national security determination in itself imposes substantial harm on the federal government and the nation at large," it says.

Taking to social media on Saturday Mr Trump mocked Judge Robart, appointed by President George W. Bush, as a "so-called judge" whose "ridiculous" ruling would be overturned.

In a flurry of tweets he posted: "What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into US?"

He later posted: "Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision."

Adding: "The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!"

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in