SEE YOU IN COURT: Judges Refuse to Restore Travel Ban
President Donald Trump is starting to see the limits of his executive power.
Last night, three federal judges unanimously refused to restore the White House’s controversial travel ban. That means citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries will continue to travel to the U.S. despite Trump’s executive order last month.
"The government has pointed to no evidence that any alien from any of the countries named in the order has perpetrated a terrorist attack in the United States," the judges wrote. "Rather than present evidence to explain the need for the Executive Order, the government has taken the position that we must not review its decision at all."
The judges added that while the public has a “powerful interest in national security and in the ability of an elected president to enact policies… the public also has an interest in free flow of travel, in avoiding separation of families, and in freedom from discrimination.”
Trump reacted almost immediately on Twitter; tweeting to the judges, “SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURTIY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE.”
"It's a political decision, we're going to see them in court, and I look forward to doing that," Trump told reporters in the White House Thursday. "It's a decision that we'll win, in my opinion, very easily."
The case will now likely go to the Supreme Court, but as SCOTUS still lacks a ninth member, there is a real chance of a 4-4 split on the bench along ideological lines, which would have the effect of affirming the ruling of the 9th Circuit, inflicting a more permanent blow to the new administration.