Opponents of Trump's travel ban look to score another win

WASHINGTON (AP) — Opponents of President Donald Trump's travel ban sought Friday to rack up another legal victory against the measure, believing they have the administration on the defensive after a federal appeals court refused to reinstate the order.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One as he flew to Florida for the weekend, the president said he expected his administration to win the legal battle over his original directive.

In Virginia, a lawyer for the state asked a judge to impose a preliminary injunction barring the government from enforcing a portion of Trump's Jan. 27 executive order that bars anyone from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the U.S. for 90 days.

Brinkema said that the order "clearly has all kinds of weaknesses," and she asked the government to explain the justification for the ban, saying courts have been "begging" for that explanation.

The group continued that Trump's executive order "could do long-term damage to our national security and foreign policy interests."

The Trump administration did win a legal victory earlier this month in Massachusetts, where a federal judge in Boston declined to extend a temporary injunction against the travel ban.