Right now, with this particular case and at this particular time, Trump has both logic and the constitution on his side to seize the moral high ground. For example, not only is the EO not an overreach of presidential authority, but it's actually simply the ordering of the execution of a law **Congress** itself passed.
I think Trump chose not to defy the original court injunction because he wanted to elevate the issue to the SC. That is, he's wasn't going to play around with some low level federal judge when his sights are really set on resolving the exec <-> congress <-> court relationships.
It's better to resolve this issue now while he has an extremely strong hand, rather than wait until a secondary cause of action puts him in a more ambiguous position. IOW, now is the time to strike; and strike he has.
While everyone would probably prefer to avoid a direct fight in the interest of averting a constitutional crisis, I think Trump would actually relish defying a SC court order. This would force Congress to act, either to impeach (for the outlandish act of carrying out their very own law), or to restrict the court's sphere of influence with respect to nat'l security.
The end result of this gamesmanship is that the court is going to lose. In fact, they must lose, otherwise Trump won't be able to get anything done. This is his best opportunity and strongest position - it doesn't get any better than this.
bttt to your analysis.
I think Windflier found the key: DJT is daring the 9th to force him to ask Congress to break them into many smaller districts, all of whose judges he’d be appointing. Brier Patch maneuver.
Did Robart really think this one through? Or is he a chameleon....?