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Watch live: 17-35105 State of Washington v. Trump 3:00 PM 2/7

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has declined a demand for an immediate reinstatement of the Executive Order on immigration but has scheduled expedited arguments and filings in the case for Monday. The decision is not surprising in such a case. Courts need to hear from the other side in the dispute, particularly when the Washington Attorney General prevailed in the trial court. Moreover, a temporary restraining order is very difficult to reverse on an interlocutory appeal. Normally, appellate courts will wait for a final decision and opinion from the lower court before agreeing to review...

If the 9th Circuit Court upholds the Washington States block of Trump's immigration pause will the Democrats be emboldened to stop every Trump action through the west coast courts?

One of the most basic tenets of libertarianism is the construction of barriers, borders and boundaries. These boundaries are usually invisible, but they could just as easily be manifested into something physical. To protect individual liberty, libertarians believe in placing constitutional limits on the government's power and reach. Figuratively, libertarians believe in building barriers around individuals to protect them from physical coercion, violence and various other external elements. Some libertarians would argue that they're building barriers around the government – but the outcome and intent are still the same: individual freedom. In most cases, to protect one individual from another,...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The fierce battle over President Donald Trump's travel and refugee ban edged up the judicial escalator Monday, headed for a possible final face-off at the Supreme Court. Travelers, temporarily unbound, tearfully reunited with loved ones at U.S. airports. The Justice Department filed a new defense of Trump's ban on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations as a federal appeals court weighs whether to restore the administration's executive order. The lawyers said the travel ban was a "lawful exercise" of the president's authority to protect national security and said a judge's order that put the policy on hold...

Last week Seattle Judge Robart claimed no-one had been arrested from the seven nations that are included in President Trump’s executive order. From the hearing: • Judge Robart: “How many arrests have there been of foreign nationals for those seven countries since 9/11?” • DOJ Attorney Michelle Bennett: “Your Honor, I don’t have that information.” • Judge Robart: “Let me tell you… The answer to that is none, as best I can tell. So, I mean, you’re here arguing on behalf of someone [President Trump] that says: We have to protect the United States from these individuals coming from these...

When a Seattle Federal Judge, James Robart, imposed a nation wide injunction on portions of President Tump’s executive order, most of the media hastened to noted that he had been appointed by Bush 43. True, but misleading, as noted by Jerome Wohrle at Liberty Unyielding: Judge Robart’s Friday order against Trump sheds little light on his thinking. But at an earlier hearing on Washington State’s motion for a temporary restraining order, he asked what rational basis the government had for restricting entry from the seven countries covered by Trump’s order: Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen. As NPR...

[Snip] The country and the world have now quickly learned that much of Trump’s rhetoric was indeed to be taken literally, and his recent immigration ban is by far the new president’s most controversial move to date. Now, in the latest chapter of this saga, 97 companies including some of the biggest names in tech have banded together to file a legal brief in opposition of Trump’s executive order on immigration.

Appeals Court Denies Justice Department's Motion to Lift Travel Ban Restraining Order By DEAN SCHABNER DAVID CAPLAN Feb 5, 2017 The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit announced early Sunday morning that it has denied the Department of Justice's emergency motion -- filed late Saturday -- to issue an immediate stay on a Washington State judge's temporary restraining order of President Donald Trump's controversial travel ban. "The court has received appellants' emergency motion (Docket Entry No. 14)," read the order from the appeals court. "Appellants' request for an immediate administrative stay pending full consideration of the emergency motion...

On CNN this morning, David Gregory, speaking of President Trump’s tweeting—and specifically, those from this weekend criticizing the judge who blocked his executive order on immigration—said: “he sounds like an old man sitting on his porch yelling at somebody to get off his lawn.” Added Gregory: “you’ve had in the first 18 days, successive weekends where he has completely derailed what his administration is trying to do with a kind of personal indulgence by attacking people personally, launching an attack on the separation of powers. But what it really comes down to is this obsession with himself, and I think...

On February 3, 2017 Federal District Judge James L. Robart issued a temporary restraining order barring the federal executive branch from implementing President Trump’s Executive Order temporarily barring travel from seven terrorist hotspots. The basis for Judge Robart’s order was not the national security of the United States or the proven threat of terrorism immigration from these countries; it was that the plaintiff state (Washington) would be irreparably harmed because, "The Executive Order adversely affects the States' residents in areas of employment, James L. Robarteducation, business, family relations, and freedom to travel... In addition, the States themselves are harmed by...

Construction company 84 Lumber seems to be deliberately looking to provoke controversy with its Super Bowl ad, which depicts a Mexican mother and daughter embarking on an arduous journey, apparently to leave their country of origin.

In a major blow to the ACLU, a federal judge in Boston refused to extend an order which temporarily put a stop to a portion of Trump’s controversial “extreme vetting” immigration order. Judge Nathaniel Gorton, a President George H.W. Bush appointee, decided not to renew the temporary restraining order which was set to expire on Sunday. This ruling is significant because it is the first time that the Trump administration has scored a victory after a series of orders nationwide slamming the ban. The ACLU argued that the Executive Order violated the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution because...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said President Donald Trump isn't likely to get his travel ban implemented by Congress if courts strike it down. "I don't know that that's necessary," McConnell told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union" Sunday. "I mean, the courts are going to decide whether the executive order the President issued is valid or not, and we all follow court orders." McConnell's comments come after a federal judge put a pause on Trump's order that barred citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries -- Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen -- from entering the US...

James Robart, the federal judge for the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington who temporarily blocked President Trump's immigration order, was praised by a Republican senator in his confirmation hearing for how he represented refugees. "He brings a wealth of trial experience to the Federal bench after trying in excess of 50 cases to verdict or judgment as sole or lead counsel, and he has been active in the representation of the disadvantaged through his work with Evergreen Legal Services and the independent representation of Southeast Asian refugees," Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah said of...

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick says his company is buying plane tickets for stranded drivers now that a federal judge has put a hold on President Donald Trump’s ban on travel to the United States by people from seven Muslim-majority countries. Kalanick tweeted Friday night that the head of litigation for the San Francisco-based ride-hailing company is “buying a whole bunch of airline tickets ASAP!”

Republican voters overwhelmingly approve of President Donald Trump temporarily halting the importation of refugees, even after a media firestorm falsely labeled it a “Muslim ban.” Rasmussen Reports filtered out media hysteria and asked likely voters: “The federal government has banned refugees from all countries from entering the United States for the next four months until there is a better system in place to keep out individuals who are terrorist threats. Do you favor or oppose such a ban?” A majority, 52 percent, favored the move, while 43 percent opposed it, and six percent were unsure. Men strongly approved of the...

Opening Statement On Friday, a Boston federal judge issued a 21 page decision debunking the arguments against Trump’s Executive Order suspending migration from certain countries pending further review. Later that same day, a Seattle federal judge who has been making the news lately (and not usually for the most flattering of reasons), declared his oral intention to sign an order limiting some aspects of the executive order. In the courtroom, whose position is likely to ultimately win?

Trump himself was often critical of President Obama’s outreach to the Muslim Brotherhood, and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has proposed a bill to call for declaring the Brotherhood a terror organization. In the past, it has been accused of supporting terrorist groups around the world, and several countries, including Muslim nations, have banned them. If the U.S. declares the Brotherhood a terrorist organization, it would make it a criminal act for Americans to fund the group, ban banks from processing money for it, bar people with ties to the group from coming to the United States and make it easier...

SEATTLE/BOSTON - A federal judge in Seattle on Friday granted a nationwide temporary restraining order blocking U.S. President Donald Trump's recent action barring nationals from seven countries from entering the United States. The judge's order represents a major challenge to the Trump administration, which is expected to immediately appeal. The judge declined to stay the order, suggesting that travel restrictions could be lifted immediately. The challenge was brought by the state of Washington and later joined by the state of Minnesota. The Seattle judge ruled that the states have legal standing to sue, which could help Democratic attorneys general take...