Chuck Schumer, Peter King, React to 9th Circuit Court Opinion

ByMATTHEW CLAIBORNE ABCNews logo
Friday, February 10, 2017

Reactions have poured in from politicians following the unanimous opinion from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to keep a restraining order against President Trump's controversial immigration ban.

Within seconds of the news breaking, Democrats chimed in to praise the court's 3-0 decision. Chief among them were former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who tweeted: "3-0," a reference to the unanimous decision by the three federal judges.

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Shortly after, Senate Minority leader, Senator Chuck Schumer, who has also been one of President Trump's harshest critics also took to twitter, writing, "Trump ought to see the writing on the wall, abandon proposal, roll up his sleeves and come up with a real, bipartisan plan to keep us safe."

Leading the opposition charge though, was the president himself, tweeting "SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!"

In brief remarks to a small group of reporters waiting outside White House press secretary Sean Spicer's office, President Trump called the 9th Circuit's ruling a "political decision" and said he looks forward to challenging the ruling in court.

"We have a situation where the security of our country is at stake, and it's a very, very serious situation and so we look forward, as I just said, to seeing them in court," he said. "We'll win the case."

Largely, Republicans have stayed quiet, but Senators Ted Cruz and Peter King have shored up support for the president, attacking the 9th circuit as a liberal-leaning court.

During a phone interview with CNN, Senator Peter King said, "I do support the executive order. I support it very strongly. Even if I didn't, just as a lawyer, I think the ninth circuit is wrong here in trying to interject its opinions or its beliefs on foreign policy, and on immigration."

In a radio interview, Senator Cruz said "But this is no surprise at all. The 9th circuit for 20, 30 years has been the most liberal, activist Court of Appeals in the country and it's only gotten worse in the last 8 years under Barack Obama."

Following the ruling, the judges' unanimous panel released a statement about the government's argument of an imminent threat saying, "The government has pointed to no evidence that any alien from any of the countries named in the Order has perpetrated a terrorist attack in the United States. Rather than present evidence to explain the need for the Executive Order, the Government has taken the position that we must not review its decision at all. We disagree."

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