A U.S. appeals court is pushing back against President Donald Trump's controversial travel ban.
According to Reuters, a three-judge 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel in Seattle has questioned the administration's definition of what constitutes a "bona fide relationship."
The temporary ban, which went into limited effect in June, stated that people from the six Muslim-majority countries included in the 90-day restriction with a bona fide relationship to an American or a U.S. entity could not be barred from traveling to the U.S.
Judges asked why grandparents and some other relatives of U.S. citizens wouldn't be deemed a close relative and therefore exempted from the ban.
"How can the government take the position that a grandmother or grandfather, or aunt or uncle, of a child in the U.S. does not have a close familial relationship? What universe does that come from?" asked Judge Michael Hawkins, according to NBC News.
The U.S. Supreme Court sided with the panel last month, allowing grandparents, cousins and others into the U.S. However, the high court has allowed limits on refugees seeking entry into the country.
Justice Department lawyer Hashim Mooppan argued that a resettlement agency has a relationship with the U.S. government but not the refugee. So far, the Trump administration has aimed to ban as many as 24,000 refugees with connections to a U.S. resettlement agency for 120 days, Reuters reports.
[READMORE]READ MORE: Grandparents No Longer Excluded by Travel Ban[/READMORE]
The panel stopped short of issuing a ruling during the Monday hearing and the appeal will move forward.
The travel ban is set to expire September 24 and the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear an argument on whether Trump exceeded his authority by issuing the ban on October 10.
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