Court Refuses to Reinstate Travel Ban, Dealing Trump Another Legal Loss -
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals panel on Thursday unanimously rejected President Trump’s bid to reinstate his ban on travel into the United States from seven largely Muslim nations, a sweeping rebuke of the administration’s claim
that the courts have no role as a check on the president.
“The government has pointed to no evidence,” the decision said, “that any alien from any of
the countries named in the order has perpetrated a terrorist attack in the United States.”
The three members of the panel were Judge Michelle T. Friedland, appointed by President Barack Obama; Judge William C. Canby Jr., appointed by President Jimmy Carter;
and Judge Richard R. Clifton, appointed by President George W. Bush.
But it said he was claiming something more — that “national security concerns are unreviewable,
even if those actions potentially contravene constitutional rights and protections.”
Read the text of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals refusal to reinstate President Trump’s travel ban.
“It is beyond question,” the decision said, “that the federal judiciary retains
the authority to adjudicate constitutional challenges to executive action.”
The decision was handed down by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco.
“The White House counsel is not the president,” the decision said, “and he is not known to be in the chain of command for
any of the executive departments.“ It also mentioned “the government’s shifting interpretations” of the executive order.