A US appeals court has rejected President Trump's attempt to reinstate his travel ban on visitors from seven mainly Muslim countries. The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals stated it would not block a lower-court ruling that halted the order. This rejection is seen as a defeat for the US President.
"The national security was at risk and there would be a legal challenge," according to Trump. But the unanimous 3-0 ruling declared the government had not proved the terror threat justified the travel ban. It also rejected the idea that the president had the sole discretion to set the immigration policy.
President Trump's lawyers did not make their case. According to three Ninth Circuit judges, they did not even really try to make it. The administration stated that the president's authority on immigration was so sweeping that they did not have to explain why the order was necessary.
The order would create more chaos, but Trump would fight
According to the court, the government was not able to say why President Trump's ban addressed a pressing national security threat that a temporary stay of the order would worsen. The lawyers for the challenging states, on the other extreme, convinced the judges that re-imposing the order would create more chaos by infringing on the due process rights of those on US soil, regardless of their immigration condition.
By issuing a unanimous and unsigned opinion, the judges avoid accusations of partisan bias, as one of them was a Republican appointee. After the decision, Trump tweeted a sharp "SEE YOU IN COURT."
An appeal to the Supreme Court seems probable, although a better move for the president may be to fight in the lower court until Judge Neil Gorsuch joins a conservative majority on the bench. Trump responded to the ruling by tweeting his dissent, and then gave an audio statement saying it was a political decision.
