Court of Appeals opens their doors to the online world to let people hear oral arguments on the Justice Department’s appeal of an order halting the Trump travel ban!

Yesterday, February 7, 2018, online listeners were able to hear oral arguments on the Justice Department’s attempt to reverse U.S. District Judge James L. Robart’s order that halted much of President Trump’s immigration ban.

Where?

If you missed it live, you can still listen to the recorded version on the official website of the Ninth Circuit Court of appeals here.  

More Details

The Federal Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will  soon decide whether to uphold or reverse the temporary restraining order (“TRO”) issued on February 3rd by District Judge James L. Robart, which blocked much of the enforcement of the travel ban executive order issued by President Trump.   As part of the appellate process each side submits briefs to the court supporting their positions.  they also have oral arguments where they can address some to the questions the judges may have about their positions.  The oral arguments were done over the phone yesterday before a panel of three judges, who let each side talk about 30 minutes.   During the arguments, some time was spent addressing procedural matters such as whether Washington State had “standing” to bring the suit and whether the Justice Department used to correct procedure for the appeal. On the issue of “standing”, Washington State, relied in part, on  how the ban would negatively impact it’s universities.

Each side seemed to get grilled by the judges.  First, the judges aggressively questioned  the Justice Department about what evidence President Trump relied upon to bar the people effected by the order.   The judges also grilled the solicitor general of Washington state over whether the lower court’s decision was too broad. The hearing was a great insight to what lawyers deal with on appellate matters and will likely provide some background to their decision which is expected to be handed down shortly.