Updated | Appeals court rejects White House plea to bring back travel ban

The US federal appeals court has rejected the Trump administration’s request to immediately reinstate the travel ban from seven Muslim countries.

The travel ban was stopped in its tracks by a federal judge on Friday and the US Justice Department filed an appeal as the new administration’s flagship immigration policy threatened to unravel after one week.

However, a US appeals court in San Francisco denied an emergency motion filed by the justice department to reinstate President Donald Trump's halted immigration ban barring citizens from seven mainly Muslim countries and temporarily banning refugees.
The government moved to reverse the judge’s order and warned the decision posed an immediate harm to the public, thwarted enforcement of an executive order and second-guessed the president's national security judgment.

After the appeal was lodged on Saturday, Trump told reporters at his private Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida: “We’ll win. For the safety of the country, we’ll win.”

Friday’s ruling prompted Trump to denounce the “so-called” judge in a series of tweets on Saturday.

Robart's ruling came in a case brought by the state attorney general of Washington State and was backed by major state employers Amazon.com Inc and Expedia Inc.

Seattle US District Judge James Robart's ruling barred the administration from enforcing the sweeping order that also indefinitely barred Syrian refugee admissions and prompted large protests across the United States.

Trump, whose personal attack on Robart went too far for some who said the president was undermining an institution designed to check the power of the White House and Congress, said he was confident the government would prevail.

The filing also criticised Robart’s legal reasoning, saying it violated the separation of powers and stepped on the president’s authority as commander chief. The appeal said the state of Washington lacked standing to challenge the order.

Congress gave the president “the unreviewable authority to suspend the admission of any class” of visitor”.

Earlier on Saturday, Trump had unleashed a Twitter assault on Robart. “The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!” Trump tweeted.

Trump, who has said “extreme vetting” of refugees and immigrants is needed to prevent terrorist attacks, continued to criticise the decision in tweets throughout Saturday.

“The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!” he tweeted.

The justice department’s appeal promises to create a showdown between the new administration and the judiciary over a policy that Trump consistently promised to deliver while on the campaign trail.

The US State Department and Department of Homeland Security said they were complying with Robart's order and many visitors are expected to start arriving on Sunday, while the government said it expects to begin admitting refugees again on Monday.

Refugees and thousands of travellers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen who had been prevented from travelling since last weekend by Trump’s executive order scrambled to get flights to quickly enter the United States.

The travel ban brought protests across the US and the world at the weekend. In America there were demonstrations in New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles among others, and also outside Trump’s Florida resort on Saturday night where he was attending a ball with his wife Melania. There were also protests in London, Paris, Berlin, Jakarta, Manila, Hong Kong, Sydney and Melbourne.