A U.S. federal appeals court expects to issue a ruling sometime this week on the government's request to end a temporary pause of President Donald Trump's travel ban.
A lower federal court issued the temporary restraining order last week, saying the government could not enforce the 90-day entry ban on people from seven Muslim-majority countries or the 120-day suspension on accepting refugees.
Now the three-judge panel on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is deciding whether to uphold that order, strike it down, or potentially send the case back to the lower court for further consideration. No matter their ruling this week, the case is likely to end up at the Supreme Court.
The judges heard arguments by telephone Tuesday from an attorney representing the states of Washington and Minnesota, which say the travel ban is unconstitutional and should be invalidated, and from a Department of Justice lawyer who said the president has the authority to issue such an executive order and protect national security.
If the 9th Circuit does rule on the case, rather than ordering it back to the lower court, that decision will have big implications for possible action by the Supreme Court.
The nation's highest court has been shorthanded since the death last year of Justice Antonin Scalia, and it is now evenly divided between four liberal-leaning justices and four conservative-leaning ones. It would take the votes of five Supreme Court justices to overturn the appellate court's ruling, meaning a 4-4 tie would let stand whatever the 9th Circuit decides.
The Supreme Court could also decline to hear the case.
For now, enforcement of the order is entirely suspended, and immigration advocates have been encouraging people who have obtained U.S. visas to board airplanes as soon as they can. Each day since the suspension, would-be immigrants have been doing just that.
美国一个联邦上诉法院本周将就川普政府请求结束暂停旅行限令一案作出裁决。
一个联邦下级法院上个星期颁发了一项临时限制令，规定政府不得对来自7个以穆斯林为主的国家的公民实行90天的入境限令，也不能暂停120天接收难民。
由美国联邦第九巡回上诉法院的三位法官组成的合议庭正在考虑支持还是驳回这项临时限制令，还是能将案件送回下级法院再审。无论他们本周如何裁决，此案都很可能会被送到最高法院。
法官星期二通过电话听取了一位代表华盛顿州和明尼苏达州的律师以及一位来自司法部的律师的陈述。前者认为旅行限令违宪，应该宣布无效；而后者表示总统有权下达这种政令，以保护国家安全。
如果联邦第九巡回法院做出裁决，而不是将案件送回下级法院，那么这一裁决将对最高法院的决定产生很大影响。
自从安东宁·斯卡利亚大法官去年去世之后，美国最高法院一直没有补缺。现在最高法院里有四名偏自由派的法官，四名偏保守派的法官。要想推翻上诉法院的裁决，需要五名最高法院法官的赞同，而目前四比四的局面意味着最高法院可能会支持第九巡回法院做出的任何裁决。
最高法院也可以拒绝受理此案。
目前，旅行限令全面暂停执行，移民支持者一直在鼓励持有美国签证的人尽早登机。旅行限令被暂停后的每一天，准备移民的人都在这样做。