A US appeals court on Monday upheld a decision to block President Donald Trump’s controversial travel ban targeting citizens from six Muslim majority nations, the latest in a string of stinging judicial blows for the Republican billionaire.
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit kept in place a lower court injunction on the ban, arguing the president had overstepped his authority and his executive order discriminated against travellers based on their nationality.
The matter was already headed for the Supreme Court, as another federal appeals court had already ruled against the Republican president, and the Justice Department had asked the high court to hear the case.
But the Ninth Circuit ruling certainly was another setback for Trump in his quest to see the measure put into effect.
The judges said the government had failed to prove “any link between an individual’s nationality and their propensity to commit terrorism,” and cited a June 5 tweet by Trump to back their argument.
“National security is not a ‘talismanic incantation’ that, once invoked, can support any and all exercise of executive power,” they added.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
