On Monday night, an appeals court decided that it would hear oral arguments on Tuesday to determine whether Trump's restriction on immigration of foreign nationals from seven majority-Muslim nations is constitutional.
The travel ban is a "lawful exercise" of presidential authority, according to a brief filed by the DOJ in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. On Tuesday at 6 p.m. Eastern Time, lawyers will battle over whether the executive order relies on executive powers that legally fall within the scope of authority given to the president by current laws and the US constitution. The transcript of the hearing will be released shortly following the hearing.
A judge appointed by George W. Bush in Washington state suspended the executive order over the weekend. A previous motion by the federal government to overturn the federal judge's decision was denied.
On January 27, Trump released an executive order temporarily preventing foreign nationals, or "aliens," from seven different nations from entering the US for 90 days. Their entry would be "detrimental" to US interests, the order said. Somalia, Iraq, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, Iran and Syria were listed as places who could not send their citizens into the US.
The ban sparked widespread protests around the US and the world, notably at airports. Former US President Barack Obama said that he "fundamentally" did not agree with the ban via a spokesman.
