An appellate ruling Thursday to continue a block on enforcement of President Donald Trump’s executive order to temporarily bar visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. shows that challengers to the so-called “travel ban” have a chance to prevail as litigation moves forward, a San Diego law professor said Thursday.
A three-justice panel of the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeal in San Francisco denied the government’s appeal for an emergency stay of last week’s ruling by a federal judge in Seattle, who issued a nationwide restraining order blocking Trump’s order.
“It says that there is at least enough of a likelihood that the challengers will prevail — enough of a hardship on their side — that the order should not be allowed to go into full effect,” said Glenn Smith, a professor at the California Western School of Law.
Trump made it clear he plans to continue fighting to implement his order, writing on his Twitter account — in all capital letters — “SEE YOU IN COURT. THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!”
Smith said Trump could opt to appeal to the full 9th Circuit or return to the district court in Seattle, but an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, currently split 4-4 between liberals and conservatives, might not be his best option.
“It would take a 5-3 vote of the Supreme Court to overturn the temporary restraining order,” Smith said. “The administration might decide that as the old saying goes, discretion might be the better part of valor and go back to the lower court and fill out the record more.”
The professor said other courts could enter the fray, and in time the makeup of the Supreme Court could change. Trump has appointed Neil Gorsuch, a conservative jurist on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeal, to the Supreme Court to replace the late Antonin Scalia.
Trump has repeatedly defended the action as necessary to beef up the vetting of immigrants to prevent terrorists from entering the country.
The order calls for a suspension of all refugee entries for 120 days, indefinitely blocks all Syrian refugees and bars entry for 90 days to all immigrants from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., said via Twitter, “Fight is not over but this is a great victory for our values.”
State Attorney General Xavier Becerra said the court “ruled on the side of justice.”
“As attorneys general throughout the country have argued, the Trump Administration violated the Constitution when it blocked tens of thousands of law-abiding people — who have already been vetted and received permission to enter — from traveling to the United States,” he said.
On his Twitter account, Rep. Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, wrote, “Great news! This is an important victory for our nation’s values. #NoBan#NoWall.”
Rep. Scott Peters, D-San Diego, issued a statement in which he applauded an independent judiciary as “a cornerstone of our democracy” that’s “uninfluenced by badgering and insults” from the president.
Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, D-San Diego, said on her Twitter account, “God Bless the 9th Circuit.”
–City News Service
