Saturday on CNN, George Washington University Law School professor Jonathan Turley argued President Donald Trump would prevail over any court challenges to the executive order he signed halting immigration from certain countries with predominantly Muslim populations.

Turley told CNN host Poppy Harlow legal precedent to dictate U.S. immigration policy was on Trump’s side and a U.S. District Court’s nationwide stay would not hold up.

“Well, it’s very, very difficult to prevail on a stay of that kind,” Turley said. “You have to show a likelihood of prevailing on the merits. The court precedent actually supports President Trump. I don’t like this rule. I don’t support it. I think it’s a real mistake. But whether it is unlawful, whether it’s unconstitutional is a different question. The courts have historically granted presidents a great deal of deference. This country has excluded people in the past on these types of orders. It has often been directed toward, for example, Asians and Chinese individuals. These were terrible periods during our country. But those actions were not found to be unconstitutional.”

“Even President Obama argued to the court just last year that executive power over immigration are decisions that don’t belong in the courts and that he had sweeping authority in this area,” he continued. “So President Trump is building on that precedent, and I think he has an upper hand. I do not think that the courts will treat this as a Muslim ban. They can’t treat it that way because there are many Muslim countries that are not covered. And a court’s not going to read into this even if many people believe that’s the motivation of religious discriminatory purpose.”

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