The US government has defended President Donald Trump's travel ban as a "lawful exercise" of his authority, and claimed that a federal court made a mistake in barring enforcement of the measure.
"The executive order is a lawful exercise of the president's authority over the entry of aliens into the United States and the admission of refugees," read a brief filed by Justice Department lawyers to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
It said: "The district court therefore erred in entering an injunction barring enforcement of the order. But even if some relief were appropriate, the court's sweeping nationwide injunction is vastly overbroad."
The government again asked that the ban be reinstated. A hearing has been set in the case tomorrow at 3:00 pm Pacific time.
Earlier, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Mr Trump's administration is confident that the temporary immigration ban will prevail.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Mr Spicer said: "Clearly the law is on the president's side.
"He has broad discretion to do what's in the nation's best interest to protect our people, and we feel very confident that we will prevail in this matter."
The government had to justify the executive order temporarily barring immigrants from seven countries and the entry of refugees after a federal judge in Seattle blocked it with a temporary restraining order on Friday.
The uncertainty caused by a judge's stay of the ban has opened a window for travellers from the seven affected countries to enter the United States.
Mr Trump has reacted with attacks on the federal judge and then the wider court system which he blames for stymieing his efforts to restrict immigration, a central promise of the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.
Democrats, meanwhile, sought to use Mr Trump's attacks on the judiciary to raise questions about the independence of his Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch.
The Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco over the weekend denied the Trump administration's request for an immediate stay of the federal judge's temporary restraining order that blocked nationwide the implementation of key parts of the travel ban.
But the court said it would reconsider the government's request after receiving more information.
National security veterans, major US technology companies and law enforcement officials from more than a dozen states backed the legal effort against the ban
Mr Trump, who during his campaign called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, has repeatedly vowed to reinstate the 27 January travel ban on citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen and a 120-day bar on all refugees in the name of protecting the United States from Islamist militants.
His critics have said the measures are discriminatory,unhelpful and legally dubious.
Yesterday, Mr Trump broadened his Twitter attacks on US District Judge James Robart in Seattle, who issued the temporary stay on Friday, to include the "court system."
Mr Trump a day earlier derided Judge Robart, who was appointed by former Republican President George W Bush, as a "so-called judge."
"Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril," Mr Trump tweeted yesterday. "If something happens blame him and court system."
Mr Trump did not elaborate on what threats the country potentially faced.
Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 5, 2017
It is unusual for a sitting president to attack a member of the judiciary. Vice President Mike Pence defended Mr Trump, even as other Republicans urged the businessman-turned-politician to avoid firing such fusillades against the co-equal judicial branch of government, which the US Constitution designates as a check on the power of the presidency and Congress.
Democrats, still smarting from Republicans' refusal last year to allow the Senate to consider former Democratic President Barack Obama's nomination of appeals court Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, have seized on Mr Trump's attacks to question his nomination last week of Judge Gorsuch.
"With each action testing the Constitution, and each personal attack on a judge, President Trump raises the bar even higher for Judge Gorsuch's nomination to serve on the Supreme Court," Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, said in a statement.
"His ability to be an independent check will be front and centre throughout the confirmation process."
Republicans hope to swiftly confirm Judge Gorsuch, Mr Trump's nomination to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia nearly a year ago.
Bercow says he does not support plans for Trump to address UK parliament
In the UK, the speaker of the House of Commons has said he would not support any plans for Mr Trump to address the British parliament during a state visit planned for later this year.
The highly unusual intervention by John Bercow further fuels the controversy surrounding the visit, which will be debated in the Commons on 20 February.
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The Speaker told the Commons this afternoon that before the imposition of the migrant ban he would have been strongly opposed to any address by the US President, but that following the recent controversy over the Executive Order he is even more opposed.
He added that he felt opposition to racism and sexism and support to equality were hugely important considerations in the House of Commons.
President Trump was invited on a State Visit to Britain by British Prime Minister Theresa May when she met him recently in Washington.
Kremlin says it wants apology from Fox News over Putin comments
The Kremlin has said it wanted an apology from Fox News over what it said were "unacceptable" comments one of the channel's presenters made about Russian President Vladimir Putin in an interview with Mr Trump.
Fox News host Bill O'Reilly described Mr Putin as "a killer" in the interview with Mr Trump as he tried to press the US president to explain more fully why he respected his Russian counterpart.
Mr O'Reilly did not say who he thought Mr Putin had killed.
"We consider such words from the Fox TV company to be unacceptable and insulting, and honestly speaking, we would prefer to get an apology from such a respected TV company," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call.
Mr Trump's views on Mr Putin are closely scrutinised in the United States where intelligence agencies have accused Moscow of having sponsored computer hacking to help Mr Trump win office, and critics say he is too complimentary about the Russian leader.
Mr Trump, when commenting on the allegations against Mr Putin in the same interview, questioned how "innocent" the United States itself was, saying it had made a lot of its own mistakes.
That irritated some Congressional Republicans who said there was no comparison between how Russian and US politicians behaved.
Mr Putin, in his 17th year of dominating the Russian political landscape, is accused by some Kremlin critics of ordering the killing of opponents.
Mr Putin and the Kremlin have repeatedly rejected those allegations as politically-motivated and false.
Mr Trump, who has said he wants to try to mend battered US-Russia ties and hopes he can get along with Mr Putin, was asked a question about some of those allegations by Fox Business before he won the White House.
In January last year, after a British judge ruled that Mr Putin had "probably" authorised the murder of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London, Mr Trump said he saw "no evidence" the Russian president was guilty.
"First of all, he says he didn't do it. Many people say it wasn't him. So who knows who did it?" Mr Trump said.
Kenny to decide on Trump invitation when in Washington
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said that he has a lot of things he wants to talk to Mr Trump about when he visits the White House on St Patrick's Day.
When asked whether he will be inviting the US President to Ireland, Mr Kenny said he will make that decision when he gets to the White House.
Earlier, Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar said that he himself "wouldn't be keen on it" [inviting Mr Trump to Ireland], adding he is "not sure what purpose it would serve".
He said the decision to extend an invitation to Mr Trump is one the Taoiseach will have to make when he visits the White House.
