this is cnn breaking news. live from cnn's world headquarters in atlanta. welcome viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm robyn kurnow. >> i'm cyril vanier. we start this hour with breaking news in the u.s. the justice department has just filed its appeal to a u.s. district court judge's suspension of the travel ban. a legal victory would reinstate at least for now that travel ban. >> and the appeal has been filed with the 9th circuit court of appeals which will hear the case. the three judges who may hear the case were an pointed separately by former presidents jimmy carter, george w. bush and barack obama. the justice department is making several different arguments in its appeal to get the suspension of that travel ban overturned.

>> cnn justice reporter laura jarrett told us earlier what those argues might involve. >> this is a strongly worded legal filing. just after midnight here on the east coast, the u.s. justice department moved for what's called an emergency stay of the sweeping decision out of seattle that temporarily halted the enforcement of president trump's travel ban on a nationwide basis. and in this legal filing, the justice department says that block the travel ban "harms the public," and second-guesses the president's national security judgment. the thrust of the argument here being made by the justice department are two different prongs. first one is that the plaintiffs in the case, the case was brought by the washington state attorney general and minnesota, they're saying the plaintiffs detainee have standing to sue here. they haven't been harped in a way that allows to you get into

court. second argument is that the president's authority in this area is sweeping. and quite broad. and so he can basically do what he wants in this area of immigration in an unreviewable way. court doesn't have authority to review him. so it's a pretty strongly worded legal filing we're seeing right now from the justice department. >> it's unclear yet whether the other side, washington, you know, state will have an opportunity to respond. there is a motions panel set up in the 9th circuit court of appeals that can hear these types of cases by phone. and so they may do it very quickly. >> for more on this it, we're joined by los angeles with a legal analyst, a criminal defense attorney. droy, run us through the next steps and how long those might take. >> right now that three-judge panel on the 9th circuit court of appeals is deciding whether

or not the temporary restraining order that was put in place by judge robart in seattle should stay in place or whether that temporary restraining order should be lifted and the case just proceed on its merits. >> the arguments that are being put forward by the department of justice, we were just hearing the department of justice saying essentially that the court shouldn't be second-guessing the president's national security judgment. it's been explained that's a high legal threshold to meet in court. in other words, it's difficult for a court to override what a president does on grounds of national security. >> that's true. the president has plenary power with regard to national security and immigration. the united states constitution delegates the authority to regulate immigration to the united states congress. and the congress has passed laws

giving the united states president power to enforce and indicate immigration laws and policy. so the president, the department of yuts is saying, has unreviewable authority to deny any class of aliens can entry into the united states. now, that's pretty strong language. the department of yuts is saying that the court can't even review a president's decision to deny any class of aliens entry into the u.s. >> does that mean the president is likely to win this case in the end? >> i think that he is. but the issue that's most pressing right now is, and the question that people around the world want to know is whether or not the executive order that president trump issued stands or is stayed right now. >> how long would it take do you think, to get an answer on that? >> well, right now, the

temporary restraining order is in place. the united states department of homeland security has said that they will obey that temporary restraining order. but the 9th circuit court of appeals knows that the world is watching. and they have procedure sit up to decide emergency motions like this. and i imagine that we're going to hear it in hours rather than days or weeks. >> all right. troy slaten, criminal defense attorney, thank you very much. appreciate it. president trump's travel ban sparked nationwide protests almost before the ink was dry on his order. those demonstrations both pro and con include outside the florida resort where mr. trump is spending the weekend. >> cnn's jessica schneider is in palm beach florida and has the latest from there. out here at mar-a-lago, a day of legal wranglings, a twitter tirade by president trump and protesters. take a look at the remnants out

here. at one point several hundred people making their march as close as they could get to mar-a-lago. mostly peaceful similar to the ones we've been seeing over the past three weekends. these people wanting to get their message directly to the president or as close as they could get now that he's down here at what they're calling the winter white house. as far as rez trump goes, he took to twitter numerous times over the day, sticking to his contention that his executive order as it pertains to the immigration ban was lawful, was constitutional. and even slamming the federal judge out in seattle several times. in fact, donald trump taking to twitter. i would read you a few posts saying the judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. bad people are very happy and earlier in the day, president trump tweeting out this, the opinion of this so-called judge which essentially takes law enforcement away from our country is ridiculous and will

beover turned. jessica schneider, cnn, palm beach, florida. and those tweets that jessica just mentioned there, they were ridiculed by washington's governor as "beneath the dignity of the presidency." >> earlier before the appeal was filed by the justice department, the governor spoke to cnn about the importance of the legal challenge brought against the president's executive order. take a listen. >> this is the way america, would. because in america, when an executive does something that's unconstitutional, thank goodness we have a federal judicial system that can reign that in. by the way, this was a judge, this insult of hip, this was a judge appointed by a conservative republican george w. bush. he was confirmed with a 99-0 vote in the senate. this is the way democracy is meant to work. snore let's get some international perspective now from scott lucas, professor of international politics at

birmingham in england. thanks so much for joining us. we were listening to the comments there and the president calling a judge a so-called judge. does that send a message that it is inappropriate or senior this just normally that the tug, the push and pull, the tug between these different branches of government? >> no, this is not normal. you often have a president saying i don't agree with the decision. but to question the integrity of the judge and say so-called, that is an attack of a branch, and remember, donald trump, during the campaign the university was -- referring to his mexican heritage. i'm afraid this is very troubling. >> i have to interrupt you. your audio is awful. we will try and sort that out. bring you back after the break. in the meantime, though, we are going to move on.

the travel bhans set off a wave of protests around the world. even near mr. trump's front door they've been marching in west palm beach, florida, not far from his resort where he is spending weekend. supporters of the president and the travel ban have been spotted in those crowds. >> and in washington, hundreds walked from the white house to the u.s. capitol on sated with a banner saying "no ban, no wall." protesters also gathered in front of the eiffel tower in paris. an american there says she's speaking because this is not what her country stands for. >> being an american, i care about my country and how we are portrayed and are seen from other countries. and i think that we need to be careful of what we're doing right now. we have french organizers on our team who have been a huge help. it's been amazing, if you see the crowd that people keep coming. i think people are ready to fight back and to organize. we're not mourning anymore. we're organizing. >> still ahead here at cnn, the

u.s. defense secretary calls iran the biggest state sponsor of terrorism. we'll have more on the escalating tensions between the two the countries. that's coming up. plus, president trump is being criticized for his new praise of the russian president. why mr. trump said "we got a lot of killers" when defending vladimir putin. that's all coming up after the break.

we're live with breaking news on the court fight over

u.s. president donald trump's travel ban. >> just a few hours ago, the u.s. justice department file add appeal say agfriday's decision to suspend the ban "harms the public." protests continued in cities across the country against the president's policies. about a thousand dem monstrator turn toed out in florida. >> in a spring of tweets on saturdays, the president blast the judge who suspended the ban and at a red cross gala ball in palm beach, he predicted his administration would win the legal battle. >> international perspective from scott lucas, professor of international politics at the university of birmingham in england. we have re-established our sound connection with you. just before the break, you were talking about how this spat between donald trump and the judge is not normal. you say. >> no. i mean, a president can object to judicial decisions. that happens quite often.

and then the justice department can as it is doing now file but to call this judge a so-called judge to insult the judiciary and to say that it has no right to question executive order, that goes a step further. of. and remember, we've got history here. during the campaign, donald trump talked about a case involving trump university. and he called the judge a mexican using basically an ethnic slur because the judge is actually from indiana and said he was not qualified. this could be the start of a big challenge, not just to the judiciary but to the whole idea of checks and balances. >> that's what i wanted to talk to you about. in many ways some observers have been saying that the courts it seems are taking up, taking up the challenge essentially of this presidency that a lot of the pushback is going to come from the courts rather than say for example, congress. >> i think that was going to happen initially because this executive order in particular

was so sweeping in what it is trying to do that it raised constitutional questions. congressmen right now who may question trump will tend to hang back. they're hoping he can be contained. in that sense, the court fight is sort of the first round of that attempt. >> when we look at all these protests that have been happening outside mar-a-lago, we're reporting a thousand people or more were there, washington and paris we're seeing protests. there was the huge massive women's march the week after the inauguration. and how will that impact president trump? he's very susceptible to public opinion. he wants to be liked. in many ways, is this still, is the art of protest still going to be very powerful during this presidency for those who disagree with him? >> protest is powerful. not because it will affect trump directly but because it affects others who are watching, congress, the courts, the media

itself will say look, he's not going to be unchallenged. as for whether this will stop trump, a normal president, a normal president would probably try to modify the order. take a step back. this is something we haven't seen before. he is not used to criticism. he is not used to basically being challenged as in business. and i don't think he's accepted that politics is the art of the compromise. no, he's not going to retreat. >> when we look at these first two weeks of this presidency, there's been a lot of unpredictability, a lot of chaos depending on what word you want to use. some people who looking to mr. trump say there is in many ways his strategy. he sees foreign policy as being unpredictable. that it throws opponents off stick. on the other hand, others points to it as being inexperienced. where do you come down on that. >> i don't think president trump is a trat gist. he has impulses fairly sharp but

let's say not exactly developed impulses. the separatist is a person like steve bannon. that is a person who came in with an agenda into the white house. including the approach to muslims. that's the person to watch in terms of the strategic response. >> in many of the interviews that people have done on steve bannon analyzing his own words, the element of chaos and destruction plays into steve ban non's world view. >> absolutely. it's to try to keep everybody unsettled. you never compromise or retreat. instead, you just fire back. the pleadia are our enemy. the judiciary system cannot be trusted. those who is protest against us are extremist. it's not just steve ban non's playbook. we've seen it in russia with putin who ironically president trump praised just a few hours ago. >> our viewers in the u.s. and around the world are watching there presidency trying to take stock of the implications of

what has happened in the past two weeks. and even the iranians trying to take a measured response to the kind of rhetoric coming out of washington at the moment. is there a sense of wait and see? >> i think a lot of people are being cautious. you mentioned the iranians, for example. in terms of rhetoric, their military will talk tough. don't try to attack us. we have our missiles. but the political leadership just is not sure whether it's just going to be more sanctions or whether we're going to see u.s. military pressure. if you take china, however, which is a huge case, notice how silent they've been in the last few weeks. they don't want a confrontation with trump. on the other hand, they do see him as unpredictable. what you're going to see are countries starting to talk amongst themselves. europeans are no longer thinking we talk to the u.s. first. they're actually talking to the chinese or amongst them selves to say we've got something different here. what do we do now. >> thanks so much, scott lucas. great to have your perspective.

appreciate it. >> thank you. president trump tells fox news that he respects russian president putin. >> and mr. trump acknowledges mr. putin may be a killer but responded "we've got a lot of killers." take a listen. >> do you respect putin. >> i do respect him. >> do you, why? >> well, i respect a lot of people. that doesn't mean i'm going to get along with him. he's a leader of his country. i say it's better to get along with russia than not. ly get along with him? i have no idea. >> he's a killer though. putin is a killer. >> a lot of killers. we've got a lot of killers. what, you think our country's so flnt. >> let's discuss all of this with claire sebastian. some observers using this moral equivalency is a familiar tactic used by the kremlin. >> robin, this is what's so striking about these comments by president trump. he's made these comments before but not since he's been u.s.

president which is what has given this such a shock factor for those watching. but yes, this is a familiar part of the kremlin playbook. we know in 2014, putin gave a speech comparing russian actions in crimea to u.s. and western actions in kosovo. there was a lot of media coverage in the run-up to the u.s. election that took the line of you accuse russia of having a weak democracy. look what's lapping in the u.s. this is a very familiar tactic. no official reaction from the kremlin to these comments by mr. trump to fox news. it's still early on sunday morning here in moscow. the kremlin this week has taken a steady line on the issue of the u.s., russia relationship. they had never indulled in any particular optimism that there would be a dramatic improvement in this relationship. so the kremlin staying steady even amid some unusual comments, mixed messages coming out of the

white house. >> okay. so we have had these mixed messages. we've he had this uncertainty, unpredictability. but we also know that a lot of these world leaders are calling mr. trump, trying to get some sense where he stands on a lot of these issues. he had a pretty important call today with the ukrainian leader, no friend of mr. putin, by the way. do we know what happened, what was said in that conversation? >> reporter: well, we know what they've chosen to tell us about it. we had two statements come out, one from the white housen an one from the office of president poroshenko. president trump saying it was a very good call and the u.s. is going to work with russia and ukraine and all sides in that conflict that's now as we know raging in eastern ukraine. no mention of sanctions at all. and as for the ukrainian side, they gave a little more detail trying to draw out more positive elements from their point of view and said they appreciated the commitment from the white

house to ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. still questions remain and the two men are expected to meet. we don't know the exactly when. >> thanks so much. live from moscow, claire sebastian. thank you. the new u.s. defense secretary has harsh words for iran. calling it the world's biggest state sponsor of terrorism. >> this comes a day after the u.s. placed fresh sanctions against iran which carried out a missile test last week and days after the trump administration says it's placing iran on notice. >> correspondent tom irdink joins us live from tehran. do you feel tensions have shot up as dramatically as it seems, or is this perhaps in part posturing? >> reporter: well, absolutely we're seeing a war of words here. we've got the u.s. responding, this enwe have iran hitting backing with a military exercise, if you will. but also with rhetoric.

although the iranians are really making an effort not to entice the trump administration any further. some of the harshest statements coming out here were from one advisor to the supreme leader and he called trump's words hollow. then there was a commander who said that in case our enemies make the wrong move, our missiles will rain down upon them. but at the same time, we're really seeing the iranians taking it easy, trying to not entice the americans any further because they simply don't know how the u.s. administration will respond. >> and thomas, i want to throw this in the mix. iran has now decided to allow a u.s. wrestling team to attend a competition in the country. reversing a previous decision. what do you make of this?

>> reporter: well, this is clearly reaction to the decision by the federal judge in washington to allow all people from the seven banned countries to come into the united states if they're visa holders or even refugees. the iranians in retaliation, if you will, had said that this u.s. wrestling team that is supposed to participate in a wrestling competition here on the 16th and 17th of february in the western part of iran that they weren't allowed into the country. and now that we see the ban in the u.s., at least temporarily reversed, the iranians are doing the same. this is tit-for-tat. >> thank you very much. >> coming up, we continue with our breaking news. the u.s. justice department has appealed the suspension of president donald trump's travel ban. you're watching cnn. stay with us.

this is cnn breaking news. welcome back to our viewers around the world. you're watching "cnn newsroom." i'm robyn kurnow. >> i'm cyril vanier. following breaking news of the legal battle brewing over president trump's travel ban. the u.s. justice department has filed an appeal to the judge's decision suspending the ban.

>> protests against mr. trump broke out again in several cities. this one near palm beach, florida, on saturday where the president attended an event at his mar-a-lago asset. he told reporters his administration would win its case. >> for more, here's sara seidner in san francisco, california. >> there are three judges, a three-panel of judges who will look at there, who look through and say, do we need to agree with the department of justice on legal grounds or is the judge's decision in washington, can that stand as this goes through the courts. the three judges are in three different places, one in hawaii. one of the judges resides in arizona. the other judge resides here in northern california. and so they will all confer likely on e-mail or by phone. and decide what is the legally proper thing to do. at the same time, the department of justice can decide that they want to go bob the 9th circuit court especially if they lose that case and go all the way to the supreme court.

but first, i'm sure they would like to hear what the 9th circuit court has to say. likely the court will take a couple days, maybe less to give that decision. we should also look at whether or not their appeal has a good chance to win in this particular court. we talked to a legal expert who is very familiar with how this court runs. he is a law professor at u.s. c hastings. >> the trump administration would have to say there's something about there stay that harms us irreparably. i'm not sure they have any showing on that since the immigration authority still have authority to keep out bad guys whether the order is in place or not. then they would have to say, the trump administration would have to say on the merits the judge was very clearly wrong. in other words, when he says there's a likelihood of success on the merits, you'd have to say no, there's no chance of success on merits. so the standard to get this reversed is very high and i think unlikely.

>> if the 9th circuit court does not rule in favor of the department of justice allowing it to put the ban back in place, all of this goes back to the court in washington and go through the court and maybe we'll finally have a decision. how long that's going to take, we don't know yet. sara sflooid sidener, cnn, san francisco. >> thanks to sara for that. earlier we spoke about all of these critical legal challenges with constitutional expert alander, vitz from harvard law school. take a listen. >> there are 29 judges on the 9th circuit. three get selected to hear a case. so we're playing judicial roulette. the court has some of the most liberal and conservative judges. it depends who's drawn in the wheel. argument the government will make will be that these states don't have standing to object to the president's executive order. that the president's executive order is constitutional. and the president has authorized the to make the kinds you have judgment he made and it's

impossible to predict what the outcome will be. my own judgment is that part of the president's executive order is constitutional. part of it is is unconstitutional. what's required is a calibrated n aunsed approach to it. so far none of the courts have given it that type of approach. the court in washington said the statute or that is the regulation is unconstitutional. and we're not clear what the end result is going to be. this is a mess. the president can cure it if he withdraws executive order and goes back to the drawing board and tries to draft it again. this time with the help of lawyers, experts, national security people and i think we could get a decent executive order that protects us against terrorism. but doesn't raise the kind you have constitutional issues that this order does raise. >> mr. trump says his order is meant to protect the u.s. from terrorism. >> after he got wind of the order's suspension, the

president tweeted because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. a terrible decision. on that topic, we spoking with security analyst juliette kay yen. >> refugees do not tend not to come in through the refugee program, a program that takes about 24 months for people to get through. and also in the united states, our biggest threat right now is clearly a homegrown threat as other countries are experiencing, as well a radicalized lone wolf threat and we are better off focusing on ha. >> still ahead, why christians in iraq are not taking up president trump's offer to go to the united states, saying they would rather stay where they are. achoo! ...answer it. with zicam cold remedy. it shortens colds, so you get better, faster. colds are gonna call. answer them with zicam! zicam. get your better back. now in great tasting crystals.

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this is cnn breaking news. and we have new developments in our breaking news on u.s. president donald trump's travel ban affecting seven muslim majority countries. a u.s. court, a u.s. appeals court has just denied a department of justice request to immediately stop a judge's suspension of the ban. that means the trump travel ban will remain on hold for now. the court has asked for both sides to file legal briefs before the court makes additional decisions. cnn justice reporter laura

jarrett is on the phone with us now from washington. what does this latest judgment mean? >> reporter: hi there, robin. so we have seen a flurry of activity in just a few short hours. after midnight on the east coast time, on sunday, the justice department filed an appeal with the 9th circuit essentially asking for them to press pause on the sweeping decision that turned everything upside down on friday in seattle. that was the decision that halted the enforcement of president donald trump's travel ban. so the government filed an appeal with the 9th circuit saying, let's take a step back and in a strongly worded filing last night, said that the travel ban "harms the public and second-guesses the president's national security interests." in just a few short hours after that filing, the 9th circuit

quickly ruled that the government's emergency motion for right now has been denied. the immediate emergency motion has been denied. that the government -- rather, excuse me, the court is asking for further briefing from the other side. so there will be more to come very soon. later this afternoon. >> so essentially what we have is that trump's travel ban now remains in place. but once those documents are filed in the next 48 hours or so from both sides, could that change? >> well, right now, the judge's ruling in seattle remains in place. so everything as it was you know, as of friday afternoon, so to speak, remains in place. so all the stuff that the government was taking to unwind the order, the executive order i should say will go forward until we hear more, you should assume that the seattle order is in

place. >> so that means people will still continue to be allowed to come into america if they have valid visas? >> reporter: that's right. >> and this of course, is going to at least for now, not complicate that process. but the actual legal issues about what's at stake or the legality or the constitutionality of the executive order, that's still very much a process that is uncomplete and still down the line? >> reporter: that's exactly right. there will be a long road to go on the overall constitutionality issue. right now, it's just a matter of what happens in the short term and whether there needs to be a temporary restraining order or a halt, so to speak of the executive order. >> you know more than any of us legal process is always kind of zig-zagy. things stop, start. there is often this kind of process that plays out when

something has been heard before the court. how dramatic, how unusual, how rare is this kind of drama when it comes to an executive order of a president and the practical implications of what we're seeing? ing. > i would say that it's fair to a this is pretty high drama. it is not every day that you see this flurry of activity in federal courts. sternal federal courts in the u.s. have evaluated executive orders in the past as they did with president obama but we have, i think it's fair to say we have not seen something quite of this magny tutd with such a far reach where so many travelers in a very long time, if at all. >> why is that? "the washington post" is calling donald trump's esimmigration order half baked. is that part of the problem, that this was a hastily put through the executive order and that if it had been done better, that this kind of drama would have been avoided? >> well, i don't know if it's

fair to say that it's half baked. i think the point is to realize that there were so many different court challenges being filed right away last week. as soon as that executive order was signed, we saw court challenges the following saturday and thereafter. that kind of created this patchwork, if you will, of different litigation going on throughout the country. and so something like there was kind of ripe to happen. if you think about it. there was a lot of different cooks in the kitchen on the lawsuit front. but this judge in seattle is the one who took the most sweeping step to bring the whole thing to a halt. >> okay. and let's just recap what we know and where we are right now. >> so what we know right now is late last evening, just after midnight on east coast time, the justice department filed an appeal in the ninth circuit

asking the 9th circuit to essentially press pause on what the seattle judge had done. and that seattle judge, as you remember, issued that sweeping decision that temporarily halted enforcement of the key provisions of donald trump's ravel ban nationwide. now, the justice department had a pretty strong brief. it was 25 pages. and it had like a very strong lines in there saying things such as the judge's order harms the public. it second-guesses the president. it contravenes separation of and plus it said that the plaintiffs in the case, the statettorney general doesn't even have standing. but at least in the short term, the court of appeals has now ruled that they should not get an immediate stay of the seattle judge's rule package and so what they're asking for is for the other side, the state attorney general, to brief this issue now on sunday so that they can hear

a little bit more about this case. >> so there's a lot at stake here. and this is certainly not over. so there's a question about the standing, the legality or the rights of immigrants. there's also the questions about the constitutionality of the executive order. you've just said president trump's legal team says that this contradicts the separation of powers. others say this is exactly what should be happening, that the courts are working exactly as they should be working as a check and balance. there's a lot at stake here, isn't there? >> i think that is fair to say. there is a lot at stake here. but what we have seen is how quickly things are moving. it is still very much a developing story. we'll have to see now what the state of washington has to say in their briefs in opposition to the u.s. justice department. >> laura jarrett, thank you so much. appreciate it. we've got a lot of questions on this. troy joins us now from los angeles for more.

he's a legal analyst, a criminal defense attorney. troy, 24 hours ago, a federal judge in washington state handed the white house a stinging but temporary defeat by suspending mr. trump's travel ban. is this defeat number two? >> well, it is. because what the 9th circuit court of appeals has said here is that they are not going to stay that temporary restraining order. so the trump administration's attempt to quickly overturn or rather stop momentarily that judge's -- >> all right. troy, it looks like we're having a little trouble with troy's audio. we've still got a lot of questions for him though. we'll come back to him in a moment as soon as we get that fixed. go to break. we'll be back in a moment. oh, look... ...another anti-wrinkle cream

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welcome back, everyone. there are breaking developments in the court fight over donald trump's travel ban involving seven muslim majority nations. >> the 9th circuit court of appeals has denied the u.s. justice department's request to

press pause on the suspension of the week old travel ban. it is asking the justice department and the states of washington and minnesota which requested the suspension to file legal briefs. >> troy slaten joins us now from los angeles. a legal analyst, criminal defense attorney. troy, obviously we've got a lot of questions for you right now. am i correct in understanding that the white house has just suffered a second legal defeat in as many days? >> well, yes. the 9th circuit court of appeals has said that for now, today, they are not going to overturn judge robart's decision that places a temporary restraining order against president trump's executive order. now, what they've asked is, for both the states of washington and minnesota to file their paperwork saying why this order should stay in place.

and what's due midnight tonight, sunday, pacific time, and then they ordered the trump administration to reply to that by 3:00 pack time on monday. >> troy, take it in stages. first of all, it means for the immediate impact, it means the executive order which was effectively overturned just over 24 hours ago is not in effect. that has not changed over the last 24 hours. that remains the case? >> yes. well it hasn't been overturned. the jum has said that you just can't enforce it for now. >> right. the, yeah, the text remains but nobody can apply it. >> that's correct. now, the 9th circuit has said that we're willing to reconsider lifting that judge's temporary restraining order but we need to hear more briefing. >> so in other words, they're going to have to finally decide, and i suppose this is what we've been waiting for in a sense on

the merits of the case. and that overarching question of whether the travel ban is legal or not. >> we, here's where it gets even more confusing. the 9th circuit court of appeals may not be deciding this entire case on its merits, but just whether or not that temporary restraining order can stay in place. that's a very narrow legal issue that the 9th circuit court of appeals is deciding. >> all right. so help me out here. wouldn't that be the second time that that same question is being answered? is that the question they've just answered? the restraining order issued 24 hours ago, that is staying in place. that's what we just found out. >> yes, but what happened here was the trump administration went in exparte, which means by themself. there was no other argument. the three-judge panel on the 9th circuit court of appeals was asked by the trump administration to overturn that

judge's decision without hearing any other argument from the other side. so what those three judges are saying is, for now, you haven't made enough of a showing for us to overturn that judge which is a very high bar but we want to hear more from both sides and then we'll give our decision about whether or not that judge's order stands. >> and how long do you expect that might take to get that answer in. >> well, we may hear as early as monday. because the court laid out a briefing schedule saying that we want to hear from the other side by midnight tonight and we want to hear a reply to that by the trump administration by 3:00 pacific time on monday. so we could hear something as early as monday night. but for now. >> the 9th circuit, sorry, go ahead. >> but for now, the executive order, there is a restraining order that temporary restraining order banning enforcement of

that executive order. >> the 9th circuit court of appeals is considered to be one of the most liberal in the country. just because it has a high proportion of judges that were picked by democratic presidents. >> not just that. but they are the most overturned of all the circuits by the united states supreme court. in the legal community, they're sometimes referred to as pejoratively as the 9th circus. >> how does that factor into the decision we just found out about in. >> well, i mean, that's really irrelevant. i mean, although it is important to note that everything is political. and three, two of the three judges on this panel were appointed by democratic presidents carter and obama. >> ultimately, who is going to settle the question of whether or not the executive order, the travel ban is legal? >> so it will go back to, let's

say there's a few possibilities. let's say that the -- that the ban is temporarily the enforcement of the ban is -- the restraining order stays in place from judge robarts. that means there will be a full trial possibly on merits in that seattle courtroom in front of judge roberts and then whoever loses will appeal that to the 9th circuit court of appeals and whoever loses there will appeal it to the supreme court. i imagine that the united states supreme court will hear this executive order, which is what they do. that's what happens. >> thank you very much for answering our questions. we've got more coming up after the break. >> and this has been cnn's breaking coverage. i'm robyn kurnow.

. live from cnn's world headquarters in atlanta, welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. >> we have new developments in our breaking news on u.s. president's donald trump's travel ban affecting seven muslim majority countries. the white house has now suffered its second defeat in two days over the ban. the u.s. appeals court has just denied a department of justice request to immte