The broad legal issue is whether Trump acted within his authority in blocking the entry of people from Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Libya, Syria and Yemen, or whether his order essentially amounts to a discriminatory ban on Muslims. The judges must also weigh the harm the ban imposes, and whether it is proper for them to intervene in a national security matter on which the president is viewed as the ultimate authority.
Justice Department lawyer August E. Flentje argued that the order was “well within the president’s power as delegated to him by Congress,” and that the president had determined there was a “real risk” in not pausing travel to the U.S. from those countries.
The court said in a news release that a ruling was “not expected to come down today, but probably this week.” The decision could potentially affect tens of thousands of travelers whose visas were revoked by the initial executive order, then restored after a federal district court judge put a nationwide stop to it.