President Trump's first 100 days
- Congress OKs short-term spending bill, averting government shutdown over weekend
- Trump tells NRA: 'You have a true friend' in White House [video]
- Trump: National monuments a 'massive federal land grab'
- Local anti-Trump activists target state GOP elected officials
- Trump administration says Iran complying with nuclear deal
- Trump declares U.S.-Russia relations may be at 'all-time low'
- Gorsuch sworn into Supreme Court, restores conservative tilt
- U.S. strike on Syria is widely hailed, but angers Russia
- U.S. launches missile attack against Syria
- House intelligence committee chair steps aside
- White House says 'reality' changing with regard to Syria
- U.S. vows to uphold Russia sanctions until it respects pledges
- As GOP schism grows, Trump attacks fellow Republicans
- Trump revives threat to change libel laws
- Senate GOP needs Pence to break tie on family planning funds
- Trump administration seeks delay in ruling on climate plan
- Trump vows efforts to fight nation's opioid addiction crisis
- House sends bill to Trump blocking online privacy regulation
- House sends bill to Trump blocking online privacy regulation
- White House eyeing $18 billion list of social program cuts
- Watchdog to examine cost, security of Trump's Florida trips
- White House looks to bounce back after health care loss
- Trump signs legislation rolling back Obama-era regulations
- Trump's border wall with Mexico faces all kinds of obstacles
- Trump attacks conservative lawmakers over health bill
- Trump, GOP leaders pull troubled health care bill off House floor [video]
- Trump OKs Keystone pipeline, calling it 'great day' for jobs
- House GOP leaders delay vote on health care repeal bill
- Big GOP donors spending millions to stop Trump health care bill
- Trump feels 'somewhat' vindicated after Nunes intelligence briefing
- Comey: FBI probing Trump-Russia links, wiretap claims bogus
- GOP leaders propose health bill changes to help older people
- Trump to meet Iraqi premier as anti-IS policy takes shape
- Trump says Dems 'made up' allegations of Russia interference
- While Trump talks tough, U.S. quietly cutting nuclear force
- Trump says Germany owes 'vast sums' to NATO
- House panel gets Justice Department information about Trump's wiretap claim
- Trump would end subsidies for rural airline service
- Trump OKs changes in GOP health care bill, winning support
- President Trump, German Chancellor Merkel talk job training
- Trump's proposed budget features steep cuts to fund military, homeland security and aid veterans
- President Trump defends wiretapping claims at joint news conference with German Chancellor Merkel
- Trump budget cuts could cut $2 million of block grants for Chattanooga
- Trump pledges to fight 'terrible' court ruling blocking latest travel ban order [video]
- President Donald Trump speaks at rally in Nashville [video]
- Trump's first budget boosts military, cuts domestic programs
- Trump arrives at The Hermitage for historic visit to Andrew Jackson's home
- Trump announces challenge to Obama-era fuel standards
- White House meeting on Saudi underscores kingdom's influence
- President Trump to lay wreath at Andrew Jackson's 's tomb at Hermitage in Nashville
- Trump White House sees influence of shadowy 'deep state'
- Busload of local Trump supporters heading for president's Nashville rally
- Trump earned $153 million and paid $36.5 million in taxes in 2005
- 14 million would lose coverage under GOP plan, according to Congressional Budget Office
- Justice Department asks for more time on wiretapping evidence
- House committee wants evidence for Trump's wiretap claim
- Tax credits work differently in 'Obamacare' and GOP plan
- Trump administration dismissing congressional budget experts
- Trump on charm offensive with former rivals
- No more love for WikiLeaks from Trump after CIA hacked
- Trump's promises vs. the Republican plan on health care
- As president, Trump seeks answers on his own wiretap mystery
- New travel ban eases some legal questions but not all
- House GOP releases bill replacing Obama health care overhaul
- Trump tours private school in Florida, promoting choice
- Environmental programs face deep cuts under budget proposal
- Officials: New Trump order drops Iraq from travel ban list
- Trump looks to refocus his presidency in address to Congress
- Trump budget to increase defense spending by $54 billion
- Trump toasts nation's governors ahead of health care talks
- Trump condemns anonymous sources as staff demands anonymity
- White House bars major news outlets from gaggle
- A look at the legal path ahead for the Trump travel ban
- White House expects Justice crackdown on legalized marijuana
- Trump vows to fight 'epidemic' of human trafficking
- Conservatives learn dealing with Trump can be complicated
- Trump administration lifts transgender student bathroom guidance
- Millions targeted for possible deportation under Trump rules
- Trump Month Two: Talks on health care and on tax overhaul
- Trump praises new African American museum during first visit
- Trump denounces anti-Semitism in newly forceful condemnation
- Trump tries to move past controversies, toward legislating
- Revived by rally, Trump turns back to governing
- Outside of Washington, Trump slips back into campaign mode
- Trump gets out of Washington for campaign-style events
- Trump praises his 'fine-tuned machine,' says media dishonest
- Trump ushers in changes in Obamacare, could lead to higher annual deductibles
- A month into presidency, Trump prepares for a campaign rally
- Trump White House wrestles with a crush of crises
- Trump says U.S. will deal with North Korea 'very strongly'
- North Korean missile launch is Trump's latest test
- AP FACT CHECK: Are immigration raids result of Trump policy?
- Trump cites voter fraud in NH without providing evidence
- Trump says he might give travel ban a tweak or a makeover
- Trump responds to ruling on travel ban: 'SEE YOU IN COURT'
- U.S. appeals court refuses to reinstate Trump's ban on travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations
- Trump says media 'doesn't want to report' extremist attacks
- White House expresses confidence travel ban will be restored
- U.S. judge temporarily blocks Trump's travel ban nationwide
- Trump moves to scale back financial regulations
- State Department says fewer than 60,000 visas canceled under Trump's order
- U.S. sanctions target two dozen people and companies in Iran following ballistic missile test
- Trump pledges to end political limits on churches
- Congress scraps Obama rules on coal mining, guns
- Trump tweets that Iran is 'on notice' for firing missiles
- Trump to Mexico: Take care of 'bad hombres' or U.S. might
- Trump praises Douglass, other famous African Americans
- Trump honors fallen Navy SEAL during unannounced trip
- Speaker defends Trump's order, warns of protests
- Local attorneys see widespread confusion over Trump's immigration order
- Trump supporters say they are happy with immigration order
- Veterans protest travel ban, saying it hurts interpreters
- Trump fires acting attorney general over executive order defiance
- White House: Immigration order 'small price' for safety
- Corker, Alexander call Trump's immigration ban 'poorly implemented' and 'confusing'
- Judge grants temporary stay after Trump immigration ban
- Trump's crackdown on refugees, citizens from 7 majority-Muslim countries takes effect
- Trump signs 'new vetting measures' to guard against terror
- Trump wants to slash EPA workforce and budget, official says
- Trump will pay for border wall with 20 percent tax on Mexican imports, spokesman says
- Trump poised to seek new military options for defeating IS
- Trump signals changes to U.S. interrogation, detention policy
- Trump calls for probe into unsubstantiated voter fraud claim
- Draft order would halt refugee processing for Syrians
- Trump intends to announce his Supreme Court pick on Feb. 2
- Trump warns he's ready to 'send in the Feds' to Chicago
- Trump moves to build border wall, cut sanctuary city funds
- EPA contract freeze, media blackout leave states confused
- Trump dogged by insecurity over popular vote, media coverage
- Trump moving forward with border wall, weighs refugee cuts
- Trump expands anti-abortion ban to all U.S. global health aid
- President Trump moves to advance Keystone XL, Dakota Access oil pipelines
- Trump administration places horse 'soring' ban on hold
- Trump tries to streamline manufacturing permits
- Trump moves to pull U.S. out of big Asia trade deal
- White House kicks off first full work day with daily briefing [video]
- Trump freezes new regulations until his administration can review them
- Trump signs first executive order
WASHINGTON - The fierce battle over President Donald Trump's travel and refugee ban edged up the judicial escalator Monday, headed for a possible final face-off at the Supreme Court. Travelers, temporarily unbound, tearfully reunited with loved ones at U.S. airports.
The Justice Department filed a new defense of Trump's ban on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations as a federal appeals court weighs whether to restore the administration's executive order. The lawyers said the travel ban was a "lawful exercise" of the president's authority to protect national security and said a judge's order that put the policy on hold should be overruled.
The filing with the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was the latest salvo in a high-stakes legal fight surrounding Trump's order, which was halted Friday by a federal judge in Washington state.
The judges are to hear arguments Tuesday.
The appeals court earlier refused to immediately reinstate the ban, and lawyers for Washington and Minnesota - two states challenging it - argued anew on Monday that any resumption would "unleash chaos again," separating families and stranding university students.
The Justice Department responded that the president has clear authority to "suspend the entry of any class of aliens" to the U.S. in the name of national security. It said the travel ban, which temporarily suspends the country's refugee program and immigration from seven countries with terrorism concerns, was intended "to permit an orderly review and revision of screening procedures to ensure that adequate standards are in place to protect against terrorist attacks."
The challengers of the ban, the Justice Department wrote, were asking "courts to take the extraordinary step of second-guessing a formal national security judgment made by the president himself pursuant to broad grants of statutory authority."
Whatever the appeals court decides, either side could ask the Supreme Court to intervene.
It could prove difficult, though, to find the necessary five votes at the high court to undo a lower court order; the Supreme Court has been at less than full strength since Justice Antonin Scalia's death a year ago. The last immigration case that reached the justices ended in a 4-4 tie.
The president's executive order has faced legal uncertainty ever since Friday's ruling by U.S. District Judge James Robart, which challenged both Trump's authority and his ability to fulfill a campaign promise.
The State Department quickly said people from the seven countries - Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen - could travel to the U.S. if they had valid visas. The Homeland Security Department said it was no longer directing airlines to prevent affected visa holders from boarding U.S.-bound planes.
On Monday in Colorado, a graduate student who had traveled to Libya with her 1-year-old son to visit her sick mother and attend her father's funeral was back in Fort Collins after having been stopped in Jordan on her return trip. She was welcomed with flowers and balloons by her husband and other children.
Two Yemeni brothers whose family has sued over the travel ban, and who'd been turned away in the chaotic opening days of the order, arrived at Dulles International Airport in Virginia, where they were greeted by their father.
"America is for everybody," Aqel Aziz said after greeting his sons.
Syrian immigrant Mathyo Asali said he thought his life was "ruined" when he landed at Philadelphia International Airport on Jan. 28 only to be denied entry to the United States. Asali, who returned to Damascus, said he figured he'd be inducted into the Syrian military. He was back on U.S. soil Monday.
"It's really nice to know that there's a lot of people supporting us," Asali told Gov. Tom Wolf, who greeted the family at a relative's house in Allentown.
The legal fight involves two divergent views of the role of the executive branch and the court system.
The government has asserted that the president alone has the power to decide who can enter or stay in the United States, while Robart has said a judge's job is to ensure that an action taken by the government "comports with our country's laws."
His Friday ruling triggered a Twitter rant by Trump, who dismissed Robart as a "so-called judge." On Sunday, Trump tweeted, "Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad!"
States challenging the ban have been joined by technology companies, who have said it makes it more difficult to recruit employees. National security officials under President Barack Obama have also come out against it. A declaration filed by John Kerry and Madeleine Albright, former secretaries of state, and others said the ban would disrupt lives and cripple U.S. counterterrorism partnerships without making the nation safer.
"It will aid ISIL's propaganda effort and serve its recruitment message by feeding into the narrative that the United States is at war with Islam," they wrote.
How and when a case might get to the Supreme Court is unclear. The travel ban itself is to expire in 90 days, meaning it could run its course before a higher court takes up the issue. Or the administration could change it in any number of ways that would keep the issue alive.
The bench also could be full, with a new ninth justice on board, by the time the court is ready to hear arguments. If Judge Neil Gorsuch is confirmed this spring as Senate Republicans hope, chances of a tie vote would disappear.