WASHINGTON: Rebuffed in its bid for a quick reversal, the White House said Sunday it expected the courts to reaffirm President Donald Trump’s executive power and reinstate a ban on refugees and travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States.
The case promised to extend into Monday at least, when fresh legal filings were due, and observers had no doubt the Supreme Court ultimately will have a say.
The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a brief order overnight, denied the administration’s request to set aside a Seattle judge’s ruling that put a temporary hold on the ban nationwide.
The lawsuit by Washington state and Minnesota said Trump’s order harmed residents and effectively mandated discrimination. Their lawyers had until 2:59 a.m. EST Monday to submit briefs opposing the government’s request. The Justice Department then had a 6 p.m. deadline to respond.
“We’ll accomplish the stay and will win the case on the merits,” Vice President Mike Pence said.
Members of Trump’s Republican Party scolded him for Twitter attacks on U.S. District Court Judge James Robart, appointed by President George W. Bush, and accused Trump of stepping over the line that separates the executive from the judiciary. Trump said Robart’s “ridiculous” ruling “will be overturned.”
Trump renewed his Twitter attacks against Robart on Sunday. “Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad!”
He followed with another tweet saying he had instructed the Homeland Security Department to check people coming into the country but that “the courts are making the job very difficult!”
Pence defended Trump, saying “the president can criticize anybody he wants.” Pence added that he believes the American people “find it very refreshing that they not only understand this president’s mind, but they understand how he feels about things.”
At issue is the legality of a presidential action undertaken in the name of national security.
“The president is not a dictator,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. “He is the chief executive of our country. And there is a tension between the branches of government.”
Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, predicted the appeals court would not have the last word. “I have no doubt that it will go to the Supreme Court, and probably some judgments will be made whether this president has exceeded his authority or not,” she said.
A team of volunteer lawyers that had been camped out at New York’s Kennedy Airport have dismantled most of their operation since they said immigrants were arriving with no problems.
Attorney Camille Mackler said the New York Immigration Coalition will continue to monitor the situation. Some operations are being moved to the New York Immigration Council’s offices in Manhattan. Its hotline will be forwarded to the Legal Aid Society.
One volunteer interpreter, Fifi Youssef, stood with a sign in Arabic at the arrivals area, but said she hasn’t had anyone to help all day. She said that means no people are getting detained.