**Written by Doug Powers

After a few years of lauding the infallibility of Obama’s pen & phone while lamenting the courts for occasionally blocking “progress,” the Left finally has a ruling against a presidential EO they can celebrate — for a little while at least:

A federal appeals court refused Thursday to reinstate President Donald Trump’s ban on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations, unanimously rejecting the administration’s claim of presidential authority, questioning its motives and concluding that the order was unlikely to survive legal challenges.

The three judges of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the argument that the ban targets Muslims raised “serious allegations” and presented “significant constitutional questions,” and they agreed that courts could consider statements by Trump and his advisers about wishing to enact such a ban.

Good analysis here for more details.

Any Dems who are still clinging to Hillary Clinton in their 2020 fantasy league were given a very brief boost with this very short comment from the sidelines:

She’ll take the “wins” anywhere she can get ’em, because they certainly don’t happen when she runs for president.

We’ll see what happens from here if it goes to the Supreme Court, but keep in mind that the Ninth Circuit gets overturned more often than botanical garden soil:

But in 2010, perhaps seeking to reclaim its position at the top of the heap, the Ninth Circuit was reversed a startling 19 times (79 percent), three times as many reversals as most circuits had cases before the Supreme Court. The same pattern continued in the 2011 (71 percent) and 2012 terms (86 percent), when the Ninth Circuit was reversed more than twice as many times as most circuits had cases before the Court.

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe