After pointed questions, fate of travel ban rests with appeals court

A three-judge panel pressed those challenging and defending President Trump’s controversial immigration order. It asked a Justice Department lawyer about the limits on the president’s power, and what evidence was used in temporarily barring refugees and citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.

By Matt Zapotosky and Robert Barnes  •  Read more » Nobody expects Trump to be rooting for the courts to knock down his ban. It is, after all, his signature policy achievement so far, meant to make good on a signature campaign promise to get tough on terrorism. But Trump isn't just sharing his opinion on the ban with us. He's not-so-subtly threatening the entire American court system if they don't side with him, including the above comment he made Wednesday in a speech to law enforcement. Also, he's tweeted a lot about this. Translation, via The Fix's Aaron Blake: “Trump is basically saying: That's a nice reputation you've got there. It'd be a shame if something happened to it.” Republicans L-O-V-E Trump's travel ban Here's some data that could help us understand why Trump is willing to throw out norms about separation of powers if it could mean saving his ban. While America is split down the middle on if his ban is a good thing, WaPo's polling guru Emily Guskin found that an incredibly high number of Republicans support it. It's not just the travel ban Republicans like. They are also incredibly supportive of several of Trump's key policies, like a border wall: Vetted, then blocked: A Syrian odyssey A family’s bags had been packed for a flight when the White House announced a ban on Syrian refugees entering the United States. “At first I thought it was a joke,” Mahmoud Khoja said. “I just froze.” By Louisa Loveluck  •  Read more » A Quinnipiac University poll finds that 51 percent of Americans are opposed to Trump’s order suspending travel from seven majority-Muslim countries, while 60 percent oppose Trump’s order to halt refugee travel to the U.S. for 120 days. By a margin of 70 percent to 26 percent, voters oppose Trump’s order to indefinitely block Syrian refugees.