--- title: President Trump's Travel Ban Faced Its Toughest Test Yet description: President Trump's temporary ban on refugees and travel from seven countries faced its toughest test yet as a federal court heard arguments. canonical: https://time.com/4663607/president-trumps-travel-ban-faced-its-toughest-test-yet/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-08T16:24:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:12:03.668Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump's Travel Ban Faced Its Toughest Test Yet og:description: President Trump's temporary ban on refugees and travel from seven countries faced its toughest test yet as a federal court heard arguments. og:url: https://time.com/4663607/president-trumps-travel-ban-faced-its-toughest-test-yet/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Morning Must Reads og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump's Travel Ban Faced Its Toughest Test Yet twitter:description: President Trump's temporary ban on refugees and travel from seven countries faced its toughest test yet as a federal court heard arguments. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump's Travel Ban Faced Its Toughest Test Yet > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Feb 8, 2017 4:24 PM UTC  The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC. The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson—Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Feb 8, 2017 4:24 PM UTC President Trump’s temporary ban on refugees and travel from seven countries faced its toughest test yet Tuesday as a federal appellate court heard arguments over whether to lift a nationwide injunction on its enforcement. The administration sought to argue that the delay in enforcement put national security at risk, while the President once again sought to undermine the judiciary by asserting that the court was playing politics. “If the U.S. does not win this case as it so obviously should, we can never have the security and safety to which we are entitled. Politics!” he tweeted Wednesday morning. Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway appeared in a [marathon interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flyW41U7XPw) with CNN’s Jake Tapper Tuesday as she sought to push back on doubts about her credibility as a spokesperson for the president. The must-see 25-minute exchange features Conway pressured to admit that the network was not, as the president has said, “fake news,” and features the top aide declining to rebut allegations that the president has engaged in serially making false or unfounded statements. The testy interview comes as the White House struggles to regain control of the narrative following more than 10 days of bad press over the immigration order. Why Betsy DeVos’ confirmation spells bad news for Democrats. Warren rebuked. And meet the judges. _Here are your must reads:_ **Must Reads** [Betsy DeVos’ Confirmation Signals Dark Times for Democrats ](http://time.com/4662853/betsy-devos-confirmation-democrats/)TIME’s Alex Altman and Haley Sweetland Edwards on why Democrats’ effort against her highlighted their weakness [Yemen Withdraws Permission for U.S. Antiterror Ground Missions ](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/07/world/middleeast/yemen-special-operations-missions.html)Trump’s first op has sharp consequences \[New York Times\] [Court Dubious of Government Arguments on Trump’s Travel Ban ](http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trump-travel-ban-court-hearing-234766)A federal appeals court panel is expected to rule soon on the executive order barring refugees and visitors from seven Muslim countries \[Politico\] [Republicans Vote to Rebuke Elizabeth Warren, Saying She Impugned Sessions’s Character ](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/02/07/republicans-vote-to-rebuke-elizabeth-warren-for-impugning-sessionss-character/?hpid=hp%5Frhp-top-table-main%5Fno-name:homepage/story&utm%5Fterm=.ce08a09d01e2)A free ad for Warren’s future campaigns \[Washington Post\] [GOP Plan to Overhaul Tax Code Gets Held Up at the Border ](https://www.wsj.com/articles/gop-plan-to-overhaul-tax-code-gets-held-up-at-the-border-1486485339)Linchpin of potential legislation is a concept known as ‘border adjustment,’ which is splitting the business world into competing camps \[Wall Street Journal\] **Sound Off** “The senator will take her seat.” — Sen. Steve Daines, presiding over the senate, instructing Sen. Elizabeth Warren to be seated after Republicans found her in violation of Senate rules “He doesn’t tweet about everything.” — Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway on why the president didn’t tweet about last week’s attack on a Quebec mosque **Bits and Bites** [This Climate Change Measure Has Fossil Fuel Companies and Green Groups Working Together](http://time.com/4662190/climate-change-green-fossil-fuel-companies-carbon/) \[TIME\] [What to Know About the 3 Judges Ruling on President Trump’s Immigration Order](http://time.com/4662860/immigration-order-arguments-judges-what-to-know/) \[TIME\] [Department of Defense looks to rent space in Trump Tower](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/department-of-defense-looks-to-rent-space-in-trump-tower/2017/02/07/6dec7252-edb0-11e6-9662-6eedf1627882%5Fstory.html?hpid=hp%5Frhp-top-table-main%5Fdefensetrumptower-1103pm:homepage/story&utm%5Fterm=.d82ffa8ba33d) \[Washington Post\] [‘A Conservative Climate Solution’: Republican Group Calls for Carbon Tax](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/07/science/a-conservative-climate-solution-republican-group-calls-for-carbon-tax.html?utm%5Fsource=newsletter&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fcampaign=newsletter%5Faxiosam) \[New York Times\] [Trump meeting with airline CEOs to focus on jobs](http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/todayinthesky/2017/02/07/white-house-says-airline-concerns-focus-us-jobs/97615160/) \[USA Today\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4663607/president-trumps-travel-ban-faced-its-toughest-test-yet/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4663607/president-trumps-travel-ban-faced-its-toughest-test-yet/"},"headline":"President Trump's Travel Ban Faced Its Toughest Test Yet","datePublished":"2017-02-08T16:24:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:12:03.668Z","description":"Morning Must Reads: February 8","url":"https://time.com/4663607/president-trumps-travel-ban-faced-its-toughest-test-yet/","keywords":["Morning Must Reads"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Morning Must Reads","caption":"Capitol","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4663607/president-trumps-travel-ban-faced-its-toughest-test-yet/","name":"President Trump's Travel Ban Faced Its Toughest Test Yet"}}]}] ```