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On Thursday, Feb. 9, the 9th United States Circuit Court of Appeals, based in San Francisco and consisting of judges appointed by both Democratic and Republican presidents, unanimously decided to uphold the suspension of President Trump’s executive order barring travel to the United States by people from seven predominantly Muslim countries.
The suspension was put in place by United States District Judge James Robart of Seattle, after Washington and Oregon both sued to suspend the order. These are not the only states to challenge the administration’s travel ban, but they have been the first to take it this far.
The appeals court judges rejected Trump administration’s argument that the courts did not have the authority to review the president’s immigration and national security decisions.
“Despite the district court’s and our own repeated invitations to explain the urgent need for the Executive Order to be placed immediately into effect, the Government submitted no evidence to rebut the States’ argument that the district court’s order merely returned the nation temporarily to the position it has occupied for many previous years,” the judges wrote.
The ban will remain suspended unless the White House can convince the United States Supreme Court to take the case up, and then to convince them to undo the suspension. It’s unlikely that this will happen before the ban was going to end (in 90 days), but it’s still an important case, as it addresses the ability of the president to use executive power to bar entry to certain people.
While the White House has argued that Trump has that power, “the administration failed to show that the order met constitutional requirements to provide notice or a hearing before restricting travel and presented no evidence that any foreigner from the seven countries was responsible for a terrorist attack in the U.S.”
Executive orders have long been a touchy legal subject, but this case--and others that will no doubt spring up over the next four years--could help to cement the powers of the president, one way or another.
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