The US Department of Justice has defended President Donald Trump's executive order that blocks the entry of citizens from seven Muslim countries, demanding that the travel ban be restored.
In a 15-page brief filed in the San Francisco-based Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday night, the Justice Department argued that the controversial decree was a “lawful exercise of the President's authority over the entry of aliens into the United States and the admission of refugees.”
The brief said, District Court Judge James Robart, who suspended the order last week, had "erred in entering an injunction barring enforcement of the order.”
The lawyers in the brief argued that Congress has granted the president "broad discretion" to suspend the entry of "any class of aliens" into the United States.
"But even if some relief were appropriate, the court's sweeping nationwide injunction is vastly overbroad," the department added.
On January 27, Trump signed the executive order that imposed a temporary travel ban on citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen and placed an indefinite ban on Syrian refugees. The move also suspended admission of all refugees for 120 days.
The Republican president has come under immense pressure from politicians and rights groups to rescind the Muslim ban.
On Friday, Judge Robart of Seattle, Washington, ruled in favor of a lawsuit seeking to overturn the presidential order.
Trump was forced to comply with the court ruling on Saturday halting his travel ban, but later said the Justice Department would succeed in appealing the verdict.
The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Sunday denied an emergency appeal from the Department of Justice to restore Trump’s executive order.
The government, however, filed a brief to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco, California. The court has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday evening which will determine the fate of the legal battle.
A large number of activists held a demonstration in front of the Department of Homeland Security headquarters in New York City on Monday to protest against Trump's contentious ban. The event was sponsored by Amnesty International which called for the suspension of the order.
Meanwhile, nearly 100 technology companies, including Apple, Google and Microsoft, have united against Trump's executive order.
The 97 companies, which also include Facebook, Netflix, Twitter, eBay and Uber, filed a legal brief against the presidential order with the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, arguing that it "inflicts significant harm on American business."
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