The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments today on President Donald Trump’s second executive order banning immigrants from six-majority Muslim countries. In a rare occurrence, 13 of the 15 active Fourth Circuit judges will hear the federal government’s appeal of a Maryland judge’s decision to block the executive order; usually a three-judge panel reviews each appeal. (Two judges recused themselves, including conservative judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, whose son-in-law is one of the lawyers working on the case.)
A decision is expected within weeks. Meanwhile, a three-judge panel from the Ninth Circuit will hear arguments next week on a Hawaii district judge’s nationwide injunction of the order.
