A federal appeals court has refused to reinstate US President Donald Trump’s ban on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations, dealing another blow to his young administration.
In a unanimous decision, the panel of three judges from the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals declined on Thursday to block a lower-court ruling that suspended the ban and allowed previously barred travelers to enter the US.
Shortly after the ruling, Trump responded furiously on Twitter, writing his response in capital letters.
He told reporters his administration ultimately would win the case and dismissed the ruling as “political”.
Trump’s January 27 order barred travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering for 90 days and all refugees for 120 days, except those from Syria, whom he would ban indefinitely. He said his directive was “done for the security of our nation, the security of our citizens.”
District Judge James Robart in Seattle issued a temporary restraining order on the ban on February 4 after Washington and Minnesota states sued, prompting Trump to label him a “so-called judge”.
The 9th Circuit judges noted that the states had raised serious allegations about religious discrimination.
Asked about Trump’s tweet, Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said: “We have seen him in court twice, and we’re two for two.”
An appeal to the Supreme Court is possible.
In its ruling on Thursday, the 9th US Circuit rejected the administration’s claim that the court did not have the authority to review the president’s executive order.
“There is no precedent to support this claimed unreview ability, which runs contrary to the fundamental structure of our constitutional democracy,” it said.
Al Jazeera’s Rob Reynolds, reporting from San Francisco, said the court presented “a point-by-point rebuttal of the government’s case in the ruling”.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Melanie Sloan, a consultant and a longtime ethics monitor in Washington DC, said: “This tells the world that there is a significant portion of our country that is not behind this kind of thing at all.
“We will work very, very hard to defeat this kind of discriminatory ban that really doesn’t help anybody.”
Justice Robart’s ban order temporarily suspended the nation’s refugee programme and immigration from countries that the Trump administration says raise security concerns.
Justice department lawyers appealed to the 9th US Circuit, arguing that the president has the constitutional power to restrict entry to the US and that the courts cannot second-guess his determination that such a step was needed to prevent terrorism.
The states, however, said Trump’s travel ban harmed individuals, businesses and universities.
Citing Trump’s campaign promise to stop Muslims from entering the US, they said the ban unconstitutionally blocked entry to people based on religion.