The efforts of President Donald Trump to reinstate a travel ban in the name of national security has been unanimously been ruled against by a federal appeal court.
According to the ruling, the United States will remain open to refugees and visa holders from the seven Muslim-majority countries.
The San Francisco-based appeals court on Thursday spurned the government’s request to close the doors after days of public debate over President Donald Trump’s attacks on the judicial system and a rush of fearful immigrants. The ruling increases the likelihood that the administration will ask the Supreme Court to step into a case that’s the biggest test of Trump’s executive power yet.
The public “has an interest in free flow of travel, in avoiding separation of families, and in freedom from discrimination,” the three-judge panel said in a 29-page ruling.
The measure has engendered lawsuits from coast to coast that present early and crucial tests of the president’s unilateral ability to decide who threatens the nation. Opponents of the ban argue it violates due process and equal-protection rights, and runs afoul of the First Amendment’s prohibition of favor for any one religion.
The Justice Department is considering its options, a spokeswoman said. A White House official said its lawyers are reviewing the decision and don’t plan to comment immediately beyond the president’s tweet.
Washington state Solicitor General Noah Purcell argued to the appeals panel on Feb. 7 that Trump’s statements as a candidate were ample proof that the ban was intended to discriminate against Muslims. “It’s remarkable to have this much evidence of intent,” he said.
