美聯邦上訴法院本週將對旅行限令作出裁決大綱

A U.S. federal appeals court expects to issue a ruling sometime this week on the government's request to end a temporary pause of President Donald Trump's travel ban.

A lower federal court issued the temporary restraining order last week, saying the government could not enforce the 90-day entry ban on people from seven Muslim-majority countries or the 120-day suspension on accepting refugees.

Now the three-judge panel on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is deciding whether to uphold that order, strike it down, or potentially send the case back to the lower court for further consideration. No matter their ruling this week, the case is likely to end up at the Supreme Court.

The judges heard arguments by telephone Tuesday from an attorney representing the states of Washington and Minnesota, which say the travel ban is unconstitutional and should be invalidated, and from a Department of Justice lawyer who said the president has the authority to issue such an executive order and protect national security.

If the 9th Circuit does rule on the case, rather than ordering it back to the lower court, that decision will have big implications for possible action by the Supreme Court.

The nation's highest court has been shorthanded since the death last year of Justice Antonin Scalia, and it is now evenly divided between four liberal-leaning justices and four conservative-leaning ones. It would take the votes of five Supreme Court justices to overturn the appellate court's ruling, meaning a 4-4 tie would let stand whatever the 9th Circuit decides.

The Supreme Court could also decline to hear the case.

For now, enforcement of the order is entirely suspended, and immigration advocates have been encouraging people who have obtained U.S. visas to board airplanes as soon as they can. Each day since the suspension, would-be immigrants have been doing just that.美國一個聯邦上訴法院本週將就川普政府請求結束暫停旅行限令一案作出裁決。

一個聯邦下級法院上個星期頒發了一項臨時限制令，規定政府不得對來自7個以穆斯林爲主的國家的公民實行90天的入境限令，也不能暫停120天接收難民。

由美國聯邦第九巡迴上訴法院的三位法官組成的合議庭正在考慮支持還是駁回這項臨時限制令，還是能將案件送回下級法院再審。無論他們本週如何裁決，此案都很可能會被送到最高法院。

法官星期二通過電話聽取了一位代表華盛頓州和明尼蘇達州的律師以及一位來自司法部的律師的陳述。前者認爲旅行限令違憲，應該宣佈無效；而後者表示總統有權下達這種政令，以保護國家安全。

如果聯邦第九巡迴法院做出裁決，而不是將案件送回下級法院，那麼這一裁決將對最高法院的決定產生很大影響。

自從安東寧·斯卡利亞大法官去年去世之後，美國最高法院一直沒有補缺。現在最高法院裏有四名偏自由派的法官，四名偏保守派的法官。要想推翻上訴法院的裁決，需要五名最高法院法官的贊同，而目前四比四的局面意味着最高法院可能會支持第九巡迴法院做出的任何裁決。

最高法院也可以拒絕受理此案。

目前，旅行限令全面暫停執行，移民支持者一直在鼓勵持有美國簽證的人儘早登機。旅行限令被暫停後的每一天，準備移民的人都在這樣做。