Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP
President Trump now faces one of his biggest choices so far: Double down on his executive order, which a federal appeals court eviscerated last night as poorly drafted, overly broad and overreaching. Or does he hit pause and come up with tighter, more defensible entrance restrictions for entrance by migrants?
Many legal experts say a more careful executive order could actually stand — that much of the policy behind Trump's current order is defensible. Rather it was the haste and harshness that undermined it — combined with the mood music of his attacks on the judiciaryn — and his December 2015 call for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on."
- Trump's tweet: "SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!"
- In a conversation with reporters in a West Wing hallway, Trump expressed confidence: "We have a situation where the security of our country is at stake and it's a very, very serious situation, so we look forward ... to seeing them in court. ... We're going to win the case."
- What's next: It's not clear which court Trump was referring to. Last night's unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals was on the temporary restraining order by the federal judge in Seattle. Before the administration appeals to the Supreme Court, the case could go to the full appeals court (or even back to the panel), or return to Seattle for more hearings.
- NPR's Nina Totenberg told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow that the current Supreme Court, currently split 4-4, is unlikely to want to take the case immediately, partly because the justices will want more of a record to consider.