A federal appeals court denied a Justice Department appeal early Sunday morning that asked the court to immediately restore the Trump administration’s Muslim ban that was temporarily halted by a federal judge Friday evening. The stay ordered by a Seattle judge was applied nationwide and forced the Department of Homeland Security to suspend Trump’s executive order targeting refugees and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries.
The Justice Department argued for the court to stay the lower court’s decision during the appeal process, effectively reimposing the ban on predominantly Muslim travelers and refugees while the legal process played out in court. “[The order] conflicts with the basic principle that ‘an alien seeking initial admission to the United States requests a privilege and has no constitutional rights regarding his application, for the power to admit or exclude aliens is a sovereign prerogative,’ ” the Justice Department motion reads. “It also contravenes the considered judgment of Congress that the President should have the unreviewable authority to suspend the admission of any class of aliens.”
The DOJ case also argued that George W. Bush appointee, Judge James Robart’s opinion is overly broad in its granting a stay nationwide, that the defendants—the states of Washington and Minnesota—lack standing to challenge the executive in court, and that Robart’s order was “accompanied by virtually no legal analysis.” “The injunction immediately harms the public by thwarting enforcement of an Executive Order issued by the President, based on his national security judgment,” the motion reads.
The president of the United States sporadically took to Twitter over the course of the day on Saturday to express his anger.
