As a member of the Somali community in the Seattle area, Mohamud Yussuf feels relief after President Donald Trump’s travel ban has been temporarily halted.

In a court hearing Friday, Feb. 3, U.S. District Judge James L. Robart ruled in Washington state’s favor and granted a temporary restraining order on Trump’s executive order that applies nationwide.

Although he is a United States citizen, Yussuf said he was apprehensive about leaving the country after Trump imposed his order, fearing he might not be able to return.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a request for an emergency stay of the court ruling Saturday evening.

In their motion, Trump’s lawyers asked the court to void Judge Robart’s ruling and resume the travel suspension. Their appeal argued that the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 gives the president the authority to suspend foreign nationals who would be detrimental to the national security of the United States.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Trump administration’s appeal later Saturday night, which means the travel ban remains on hold. Both sides, Washington state and the Trump administration, were asked to submit legal briefs to the court by Feb. 6.

Imposed on Jan. 27, the president’s executive order bars people with visas from entering the United States from Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. The Refugee Admissions Program was also suspended for 120 days from the order’s effective date. Judge Robart’s ruling puts both of these provisions temporarily on hold.

The Trump administration has said these measures will help prevent terrorists from entering the United States.

The restraining order, which is the first step in a process to determine the legality of the travel ban, took effect immediately on Friday.

In a statement Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security announced it has suspended parts of the executive order that apply to Friday’s ruling, which means travelers who hold passports from the seven previously barred countries may enter the United States. The refugee program also resumes.

Future court hearings address striking down the order permanently.

“I said from the beginning, it’s not the loudest voice that prevails in a courtroom, it’s the Constitution,” Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in press conference after Friday’s court hearing.

Ferguson filed suit against President Trump, the Department of Homeland Security and high-ranking Trump administration officials on Jan. 30 in Seattle’s federal district court to halt implementation of the travel ban detailed in the president’s executive order issued last month.

(This story is part of a series of news reports from the Washington State Legislature provided through a reporting internship sponsored by the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation.)