[JURIST] A judge for the US District Court for the Western District of Washington [official website] on Monday determined that a lawsuit [materials] regarding President Donald Trump’s immigration executive order [text] can proceed in district court while the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] hears the appeal of a temporary injunction on the ban. District Judge James Robart decided [Reuters report] at a hearing that the lawsuit brought by the states of Washington and Minnesota can proceed despite the fact that Justice Department (DOJ) [official website] sought a delay until appellate review is complete. A judge on the appellate court has requested [order, PDF] a vote as to whether the court will re-hear the appeal of the travel ban injunction en banc. The DOJ argued [memorandum response, PDF] that “[f]urther proceedings in the Ninth Circuit will likely inform what additional proceedings on a preliminary injunction motion are necessary in district court.” Robart is the same judge that initially issued [materials] the temporary restraining order halting the travel ban.

Trump signed the executive order [JURIST op-ed] in late January. Only a day later, a judge for the Eastern District of New York issued an emergency stay [JURIST report], temporarily preventing execution of the law, until the question of whether it applied to valid visa holders could be resolved. The issue was resolved by a district judge in Michigan, who ordered [JURIST report] that the travel ban could not be applied to legal citizens, including those holding visas.