- Opinion
- 10 Feb 17
A US federal appeals court has rejected President Donald Trump's attempt to reinstate his ban on citizens from seven mainly Muslim countries.
The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals made the decision that it would not block the ruling by a Seattle court that halted the order.
Mr Trump responded with an angry tweet saying: "SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!" (caps are his own).
At this point, it was unclear whether he intended to file an appeal to the Supreme Court or continue fighting the case in Seattle.
In a 3-0 unanimous ruling on Thursday, the appeals court said that the terror threat on US soil by refugees was unfounded and there was no justification for the ban.
The ruling means that people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen with visas can continue to enter the US, and refugees from around the world, who were also subject to a temporary ban, are no longer blocked either.
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However, the ruling does not affect one part of Mr Trump's controversial executive order: a cap of 50,000 refugees to be admitted in the current fiscal year, down from the ceiling of 110,000 established under his predecessor, Barack Obama.
A slew online responses followed on from Trump's tweet to the Appeals Court, ridiculing the paradoxical threat of taking a Court to court:
Fixed that for you.@realDonaldTrump SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE! pic.twitter.com/YoHQ9tCAGl
— Jeffrey Lewis (@ArmsControlWonk) February 9, 2017
"SEE YOU IN COURT"
"Ok cool, that is where we work, so it is very convenient for us"— Chase Mitchell (@ChaseMit) February 10, 2017
“oh no, not court” —judges
— both are equally bad (@caseyjohnston) February 10, 2017
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Joking aside, this judicial ruling proves that checks and balances are still in place in the United States to stop one person have full authority.