Update 4:31 p.m.Judge Forrest denied the Justice Department's request for an interim stay.

The Obama administration, stung by a court ruling striking down a law on indefinite detention, had some strong words Friday for the federal district judge who issued it. In a court filing requesting that the judge suspend the ruling pending appeal, Justice Department lawyers wrote:

This Court’s decision is unprecedented, and the government has compelling arguments that it should be reversed. The decision holds facially unconstitutional an Act of Congress that was passed to confirm the authority of the President as Commander in Chief under the Authorization for Use of Military Force in connection with ongoing military operations against al-Qaeda and its affiliates—a setting in which the Judiciary owes the greatest deference to the other branches—and in doing so it disregards the interpretation of the President’s detention authority by two Presidents, the D.C. Circuit, and the Congress itself.

Judge Katherine B. Forrest of the Southern District of New York, an Obama appointee, said in a ruling on Wednesday that the law impinges on First Amendment rights and violates due process. The law, passed as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, permits the U.S. government to detain indefinitely people who are part of or substantially support Al Qaeda, the Taliban or associated forces engaged in hostilities against the U.S.

The U.S. government has argued that new law reasserts powers already provided by Congress in the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force against perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks and those who helped them. Judge Forrest said the new measure was broader, because it covered people beyond those connected to the 9/11 attacks.