White House predicts court victory on travel ban
Rebuffed in its bid for a quick reversal, the White House said Sunday it expected the courts to reaffirm President Trump’s executive power and reinstate a ban on refugees and travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States.
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.
Whatever the outcome and however the case drags on, a president who was used to getting his way in private business is finding, just weeks into the job, obstacles to quickly fulfilling one of his chief campaign pledges.
The government had told the appeals court that the president alone has the power to decide who can enter or stay in the United States, an assertion that appeared to invoke the wider battle to come over illegal immigration.
Congress “vests complete discretion” in the president to impose conditions on entry of foreigners to the United States, and that power is “largely immune from judicial control,” according to the court filing.
“We don’t appoint judges to our district courts to conduct foreign policy or to make decisions about the national security,” Pence said.
Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, predicted the appeals court would not have the last word.
The order had caused confusion for many foreigners trying to reach the United States, prompted protests across the country and led to multiple court challenges.
Trump’s criticism of Robart echoed campaign comments against a federal judge of Mexican heritage who was overseeing a lawsuit against Trump University.
The department also advised refugee aid agencies that refugees set to travel before Trump signed his order would now be allowed in.
The Homeland Security Department no longer was directing airlines to prevent visa-holders affected by Trump’s order from boarding U.S.-bound planes.