The Virginia-based Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has decided to hear the government’s appeal of a lower court order blocking President Trump’s revised travel ban with its full panel of judges.
The court polled its 15 judges and a majority agreed Monday to hear the case en banc, streamlining the appeals process.
The government is appealing a Maryland district judge’s decision to block Trump’s executive order that temporarily banned nationals from six majority-Muslim countries from entering the U.S. hours before it was set to take effect.
A district judge in Hawaii also issued a temporary stay blocking the order, which the Trump administration is appealing. Those arguments in the Ninth Circuit are scheduled for May 15.
The Ninth Circuit refused to reinstate Trump’s first travel ban in February, after a district court judge in Washington blocked it.
The Fourth Circuit’s interest in hearing the case with its full panel of judges is likely the result of a federal judge in Virginia deciding to uphold the revised ban. The ruling created a split among the lower courts, increasing the likelihood that the Supreme Court will hear the case.
The Fourth Circuit will hear oral arguments on May 8.