Jeff Sessions
Jeff SessionsReuters

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said on Monday night that President Donald Trump's temporary travel ban on nationals from six majority-Muslim countries was necessary for national security.

Sessions' statement came hours after the California-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the temporary ban.

Sessions said the Justice Department disagrees with the court's ruling, calling Trump's executive order "well within his lawful authority."

"Recent attacks confirm that the threat to our nation is immediate and real. We must not place our nation at risk until we have the ability accurately and responsibly to vet those seeking entry here. This is not about religion; it is about national security," he stressed.

In a unanimous ruling earlier on Monday, a three-judge panel on the court said Trump's order does not offer a sufficient justification to suspend the entry of more than 180 million people on the basis of nationality.

Though the Immigration and Nationality Act gives the president broad powers to control the entry of foreigners, the judges said the president’s authority is subject to certain statutory and constitutional restraints.

Earlier this month, a Virginia-based federal appeals court refused to reinstate Trump’s ban. Trump then turned to the Supreme Court in a request to reinstate the ban.

The order that was blocked was an updated order blocking citizens from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Iraqi citizens, covered by an initial ban announced by Trump, will be allowed to travel to the United States under the new order.

The order is temporary, until proper vetting procedures – a central campaign promise of Trump’s – can be implemented.

Trump last week labeled his order a “travel ban” on Twitter. The judges on Monday cited Trump's tweets in defending its finding that the order does not provide a rationale explaining why permitting entry of nationals from the six designated countries under current protocols would be detrimental to the interests of the United States.

“Indeed, the President recently confirmed his assessment that it is the ‘countries’ that are inherently dangerous, rather than the 180 million individual nationals of those countries who are barred from entry under the President’s ‘travel ban,’” the judges wrote in a footnote, citing Trump’s tweet from June 5.

"That’s right, we need a TRAVEL BAN for certain DANGEROUS countries, not some politically correct term that won’t help us protect our people!” Trump had tweeted.