In a one-sentence order [text, PDF] issued Tuesday afternoon, the US Supreme Court [official website] blocked a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals [official website] ruling in the matter of Trump v. Hawaii [opinion, PDF], thereby allowing the administration’s travel ban to go into effect. The unsigned order from the court grants a request from the Trump administration to stay the decision of the Ninth Circuit as the case proceeds. The justices are expected to hear arguments [docket, PDF] related to the case on October 10.

The order comes a day after Justice Anthony Kennedy issued a temporary stay [JURIST report] of the Ninth Circuit Court’s decision, in response to an emergency application [text, PDF] by the Justice Department.

Though claiming to serve the interest of national security, the travel ban has been widely criticized by organizations such as the ACLU and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project [advocacy websites] and has faced legal difficulties in court. The Trump administration policy restricts refugee and general travel from six predominantly-Muslim nations in the stated-interested of national security. Last month a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit questioned [JURIST report] the Justice Department lawyer representing the Trump administration in a hearing over the executive order restricting immigration from certain countries. In June the US District Court for the Western District of Washington [official website] denied in part [JURIST report] and granted in part a motion to dismiss a class action suit filed against President Donald Trump and the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. In July, a federal judge expanded travel ban exemptions [JURIST report], though the Supreme Court later allowed the ban to apply to refugees [CNN report].