A federal appeals court late Thursday upheld a lower court’s decision blocking the travel ban that was implemented under executive order by President Donald Trump two weeks ago.
The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals was reviewing a decision by US District Judge James L. Robart, who last week ruled against Trump’s executive order and imposed a nationwide temporary restraining order. In both the hearings before the 9th Circuit earlier this week, as well as before the lower district court, lawyers from the Department of Justice largely argued that the states of Washington and Minnesota had no standing to challenge the executive order and that it was well within the president’s right to set immigration policy. The 9th Circuit disagreed on both counts.
“There is no precedent to support this claimed unreviewability, which runs contrary to the fundamental structure of our constitutional democracy,” the appeals court concluded.