SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON – A United States federal appeals court will hear arguments on Tuesday (local time) over whether to restore President Donald Trump’s temporary travel ban on people from seven Muslim-majority countries, the most controversial policy of his two-week old administration.

In a brief filed on Monday, the Justice Department said last week’s suspension of Trump’s order by a federal judge was too broad and “at most” should be limited to people who were already granted entry to the country and were temporarily abroad, or to those who want to leave and return to the United States.

That language did not appear in the government’s opening brief filed at the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, and could represent a softening of its position.

Last Friday’s ruling by US District Judge James Robart in Seattle suspending the travel ban opened a window for people from the seven affected countries to enter..

The 9th Circuit in San Francisco on Monday asked lawyers for the states of Washington and Minnesota and the Justice Department to argue whether the ban should remain shelved. The court set oral argument for 3 pm (local time) on Tuesday.

The new Republican president has said the travel measures are to protect the country against the threat of terrorism. Opponents say the 90-day ban is illegal, barring entry for citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen and imposing a 120-day halt to all refugees.

People hold protest signs during Friday prayers to show solidarity with the Muslim community at the Islamic Center of Southern California in Los Angeles, California, US. February 3, 2017. (Photo: Reuters)

National security veterans, major US technology companies and law enforcement officials from more than a dozen states backed a legal effort against the ban.

The case may ultimately reach the US Supreme Court.

Ten former US national security and foreign policy officials, who served under both Republican and Democratic presidents, filed a declaration in the court case arguing that the travel ban served no national security purposes.

It was signed by former Secretaries of State John Kerry and Madeleine Albright, former national security adviser Susan Rice and former CIA Directors Michael Hayden and Michael Morell.

Over the weekend, the San Francisco court denied the administration’s request for an immediate suspension of the federal judge’s temporary restraining order that blocked the implementation of key parts of the travel ban while it considered the government’s request in full.

The court did say it would consider the government’s request after receiving more information.

Trump has reacted to challenges to the ban by attacking the federal judge in Seattle and then the wider court system.

On a visit on Monday to the military’s Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Florida, Trump defended his order.

“Radical Islamic terrorists are determined to strike our homeland as they did on 9/11,” he said. “We need strong programs for people who love our country,” Trump said, adding he did not want to allow “people who want to destroy us and destroy our country” into the United States.

– Reuters