A second federal appeals court has ruled against President Donald Trump’s sweeping travel ban.
On Monday, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a lower court’s injunction against the government’s 90-day ban on travelers from six Muslim-majority countries. The appeals court also kept on hold a 120-day day suspension of the refugee resettlement program as well as an order to cap that program at 50,000 refugees for this fiscal year.
Last month, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., refused to reinstate the travel ban, saying: “It drips with religious intolerance, animus and discrimination.”
“Surely the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment yet stands as an untiring sentinel for the protection of one of our most cherished founding principles that government shall not establish any religious orthodoxy, or favor or disfavor one religion over another,” the court ruled.
The Trump administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the case.
“I think we can all attest that these are very dangerous times and we need every available tool at our disposal to prevent terrorists from entering the United States and committing acts of bloodshed and violence,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters Monday. “We continue to be confident that the president's executive order to protect this country is fully lawful and ultimately will be upheld by the Supreme Court.”
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