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Trump's travel ban: Watch Seattle judge argue with lawyer over 'rationale' of order

"How many arrests have there been of foreign nationals of those seven countries since 9/11?," Judge James Robart asks state attorney during hearing.

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Judge James Robart. Image Source: Youtube screengrab
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On February 3, Seattle Federal Judge James Robart was hailed a hero when he blocked Trump's controversial executive order temporarily barring refugees and nationals from seven predominantly Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States (US).

Robart's ruling was a major setback for the Trump administration. A video of the hearing, posted on Youtube, shows Robart and a state attorney arguing over the 'rationale' of the order. 

"How many arrests have there been of foreign nationals of those seven countries since 9/11?," Judge Robart asks. In a joking manner, she responds: "Your honour I don't have that information. I'm from the civil division if that helps get me off the hook"

On a serious note, Robart said, "Let me tell you the answer to that is none as best I can tell."

"So you're here arguing on behalf of someone that says we have to protect the United States from these individuals coming from these countries and there's no support for that." he asserts.

Given that the US Congress has delegated the authority to the president to make the determination, the attorney claimed "that the court court doesn't have authority" to make those determinations except for the president.

As a judge, Robart explains he has to determine if the order is "rationally based" and has to find it "grounded in facts as opposed to fiction".

While his ruling was celebrated across the America, the president was not happy: 

Trump's prediction on the ruling being overturned was wrong as a US federal appeals court on Thursday refused to reinstate the travel ban.

The Trump administration failed to prove that "national security concerns justified immediately restoring the ban," ruled the three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeal, Reuters reported.

The defeat is not stopping Trump, which he made evident in a tweet shortly after the ruling.

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