3 Judges to Decide Fate of Travel Ban Over the Phone

DOJ urges 9th Circuit to restore 'lawful' order
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 7, 2017 2:15 AM CST
Updated Feb 7, 2017 4:33 AM CST
DoJ Urges Court to Restore Trump Travel Ban
American expatriates join a protest outside of the US Embassy in Tokyo.   (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

Three judges will decide the future of President Trump's travel ban on Tuesday—and the Justice Department has urged them to restore it as soon as possible. A federal appeals court will hear around 30 minutes of arguments from each side in a hearing scheduled for 6pm EST, NPR reports. Justice Department lawyers have filed a brief calling the ban "a lawful exercise of the president's authority over the entry of aliens," while lawyers for Washington state and Minnesota argue that the president "unleashed chaos by signing the executive order." Some 15 other states and the District of Columbia filed a supporting brief, arguing that the ban harms residents, businesses, and institutions such as universities.

The DOJ's brief argues that Friday's order from a federal judge blocking enforcement of the ban is "overbroad." The hearing will, unusually, be carried out over the phone, the New York Times reports. The three judges on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals who will hear the case are William C. Canby Jr., who was appointed by Jimmy Carter, Obama appointee Michelle Taryn Friedland, and George W. Bush appointee Richard Clifton. Either side has the option of appealing the court's decision to the Supreme Court, though the Washington Post notes that the highest court is still one justice short: If it splits 4-4 on the decision, as analysts predict, the 9th Circuit's decision will stand. (Almost 100 tech companies have filed a brief opposing the ban.)

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