How did the ban get banned?
Last week, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against president trumps Muslim travel ban.
Does this mean that the fight is over? Is the ban banned? No, not by a long shot.
Temporary restraining orders can be confusing (even to practicing lawyers) because we don’t have an opportunity to encounter them all that often. The bar for granting a temporary restraining order is relatively low. But if it grants one, the court then has to have a full hearing in 10 days to determine if a more substantial preliminary restraining order should be implemented. At this stage, all the plaintiffs had to show was a likelihood of irrevocable harm and a likelihood of success. Pretty easy to do really.
These temporary orders are almost never ever overturned by Court of Appeal because they’re only in place for a few days anyway.
Next week, each side will have an opportunity to put on evidence to the court for it to determine if the injunction against the ban should remain in place for a longer period.
The focus should be on the word “temporary.”
The big decision ultimately rests with the court of appeals and then the Supreme Court.
