Court upholds suspension of travel ban, Trump remains defiant

President Donald Trump has said he would take the case to the Supreme Court if necessary (Photo: NBC News)

A federal appeals court Thursday upheld the suspension of President Donald Trump’s executive order that would temporarily bar entry into the United States for nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries.

The unanimous 3-0 ruling from the panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals means that citizens from those countries will continue to be able to travel to the U.S. as they were before the president’s executive order.

“The Government has pointed to no evidence that any alien from any of the countries named in the order has perpetrated a terrorist attack in the United States,” the judges wrote in their ruling. “Rather than present evidence to explain the need for the Executive Order, the government has taken the position that we must not review its decision at all.”

The ruling also touched on Trump’s claims that the executive order was a matter of national security. “Federal courts routinely review the constitutionality of — and even invalidate — actions taken by the executive to promote national security, and have done so even in times of conflict,” the judges wrote.

The panel also dismissed arguments from the Justice Department that presidential decisions on immigration policy as it relates to national security are un-reviewable.

“There is no precedent to support this claimed unreviewability, which runs contrary to the fundamental structure of our constitutional democracy,” the judges wrote.

Trump issued a defiant tweet minutes after the ruling, saying “SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!”

According to CNN, Trump told reporters: “It’s a political decision, we’re going to see them in court, and I look forward to doing that.”

Trump continued: “It’s a decision that we’ll win, in my opinion, very easily.”

The ruling comes after federal Judge James Robart in Seattle issued a restraining order blocking the travel ban nationwide. The administration then appealed, which led the case to the 9th Circuit of Appeals.

The Justice Department is now in the process of reviewing the decision, and Trump has indicated throughout that he would take the case to the Supreme Court if necessary.