WASHINGTON
\nA United States federal appeals court early Sunday rejected a request by the Department of Justice to immediately reinstate President Donald Trump\u2019s travel ban.
\nTrump\u2019s administration had lodged the request with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals as part of an appeal against a lower court order temporarily suspending the travel ban on citizens from seven mainly Muslim countries.
\nFor now, the travel ban suspension remains in place.
\nBoth the State and Homeland Security Departments said Saturday they were resuming normal practices concerning travellers from the affected countries.
\nJudge William Canby Jr in Phoenix and Judge Michelle Friedland in San Francisco did not give a reason for their denial in a two-paragraph ruling.
\nHowever, they told the states of Washington and Minnesota, which had filed the original suit against Trump\u2019s travel ban, to provide documents detailing their opposition to the government\u2019s appeal by 11:59pm Sunday.
\nThe Department of Justice was given a deadline of 3pm Monday to supply more documents supporting its position.
\nJudge Robart probed a Justice Department lawyer on what he called the \u201clitany of harms\u201d suffered by Washington state\u2019s universities, and also questioned the administration\u2019s use of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States as a justification for the ban.
\nRobart said no attacks had been carried out on U.S. soil by individuals from the seven countries affected by the travel ban since that assault. For Trump\u2019s order to be constitutional, Robart said, it had to be \u201cbased in fact, as opposed to fiction.\u201d
\nGulf carrier Qatar Airways will allow passengers barred by an executive order last week to board flights to the United States, after Robart\u2019s order, a spokeswoman told Reuters.
\nBut for some who had changed their travel plans following the ban, the order was not enough reassurance.
\nIn Dubai, Tariq Laham, 32, and his fiancee Natalia had scrapped plans to travel to the U.S. after their July wedding in Poland, where Natalia is from.
\nLaham said the couple would not reverse their decision.
\n\u201cIt is just too risky,\u201d said Laham, a Syrian who works as a director of commercial operations at a multinational technology company. \u201cEveryday you wake up and there is a new decision.\u201d
\nThe White House said it would file an appeal as soon as possible.
\n\u201cAt the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the president, which we believe is lawful and appropriate,\u201d the White House said in a statement.
\n\u201cThe president\u2019s order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people.\u201d
\nWashingon Governor Jay Inslee celebrated the decision as a victory for the state, adding: \u201cNo person – not even the president – is above the law.\u201d
\nThe judge\u2019s decision was welcomed by groups protesting the ban.
\n\u201cThis order demonstrates that federal judges throughout the country are seeing the serious constitutional problems with this order,\u201d said Nicholas Espiritu, a staff attorney at the National Immigration Law Center.
\nEric Ferrero, Amnesty International USA spokesman, lauded the short-term relief provided by the order but added: \u201cCongress must step in and block this unlawful ban for good.\u201d
\nBut the fluid legal situation was illustrated by the fact that Robart\u2019s ruling came just hours after a federal judge in Boston declined to extend a temporary restraining order allowing some immigrants into the United States from countries affected by Trump\u2019s three-month ban.
\nA Reuters poll earlier this week indicated that the immigration ban has popular support, with 49 percent of Americans agreeing with the order and 41 percent disagreeing. Some 53 percent of Democrats said they \u201cstrongly disagree\u201d with Trump\u2019s action while 51 percent of Republicans said they \u201cstrongly agree.\u201d
\nAt least one company, the ride-hailing giant Uber, was moving quickly Friday night to take advantage of the ruling.
\nCEO Travis Kalanick, who quit Trump\u2019s business advisory council this week in the face of a fierce backlash from Uber customers and the company\u2019s many immigrant drivers, said on Twitter: \u201cWe have a team of in-house attorneys who\u2019ve been working night & day to get U.S. resident drivers & stranded families back into country.
\n\u201cI just chatted with our head of litigation Angela, who\u2019s buying a whole bunch of airline tickets ASAP!! #homecoming #fingerscrossed\u201d
\nThe decision in Washington state came at the end of a day of furious legal activity around the country over the immigration ban. The Trump administration has justified its actions on national security grounds, but opponents have labeled it an unconstitutional order targeting people based on religious beliefs.
\nIn Boston, U.S. District Judge Nathan Gorton expressed skepticism during oral arguments about a civil rights group\u2019s claim that Trump\u2019s order represented religious discrimination, before declining to extend the restraining order.
\nU.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, ordered the federal government to give the state a list by Thursday of \u201call persons who have been denied entry to or removed from the United States.\u201d
\nThe state of Hawaii on Friday also filed a lawsuit alleging that the order is unconstitutional and asking the court to block the order across the country.
\nHe lists several examples of Syrian friends from around the world, whose work and personal life had been thrown into disarray by Trump\u2019s orders.
\nOne has been unable to visit family residing in the U.S., while another was unsure whether they would be able to take up a job offer in California after their U.S. visa appointment was canceled in the wake of the ban.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON A United States federal appeals court early Sunday rejected a request by the Department of Justice to immediately reinstate President Donald Trump\u2019s travel ban. Trump\u2019s administration had lodged the request with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals as part of an appeal against a lower court order temporarily suspending the travel ban on citizens […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10929,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11527","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n