A federal appeals panel bluntly rejected President Trump’s attempt to revive his controversial travel ban executive order, giving no ground under unusual public pressure from the president himself, reports Politico. Three judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit turned down the Justice Department’s request to lift a Seattle-based judge’s restraining order, blocking authorities from carrying out limits Trump sought to impose on travel to the U.S. by citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries and by refugees from around the globe. The judges said Trump’s order appears to deprive many affected foreigners of their rights without providing the legal process the Constitution requires.
The judges appeared to bristle at the starkness of arguments Justice Department lawyers offered in the case, including a contention that orders such as Trump’s should not be subject to scrutiny by the courts. “There is no precedent to support this claimed unreviewability, which runs contrary to the fundamental structure of our constitutional democracy,” the court said. The White House could take the issue to the Supreme Court, but the prospects for such an appeal are uncertain due in part to the high court being short a justice and split evenly between Democratic- and Republican-appointed justices. Trump vowed to keep up the legal fight, tweeting, “SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!” The appeals court ruling is not a final one on the legality of Trump’s order. Litigation will go forward in Seattle and in about 20 other legal challenges across the nation.