The suit being appealed was brought by two refugee aid organizations, the International Refugee Assistance Project and HIAS. | Getty Trump administration moves to expedite travel ban appeal Justice Department wants 4th Circuit to speed decision on overturning order blocking presidential directive.

The Trump administration is asking a federal appeals court to expedite its review of President Donald Trump's revised travel ban executive order.

The Justice Department Wednesday asked the Richmond-based 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to speed up its handling of the federal government's effort to overturn an injunction a Maryland-based judge entered earlier this month, barring Trump from implementing a ban on issuance of visas to citizens of six majority-Muslim countries.


Justice Department attorneys also indicated they plan to ask the appeals court to stay U.S. District Court Judge Theodore Chuang's injunction while the appeal goes forward.

"This case presents constitutional and statutory issues of nationwide significance," federal government lawyers wrote in the newly-filed motion. "The district court here enjoined the President and government agencies from enforcing a key provision of the Order, which is designed to protect national security, an interest that this Court has recognized as paramount."

The suit being appealed was brought by two refugee aid organizations, the International Refugee Assistance Project and HIAS.

A lawyer representing those groups declined to comment on the government motion, but the government's filing says the plaintiffs in the case favored a somewhat more extended schedule and also sought to have the stay considered separately from the ultimate appeal.

A federal judge in Hawaii handling a suit brought by the State of Hawaii issued an even broader injunction against Trump's revised travel ban order, blocking not only the six-country, 90-day visa ban but also a 120-day suspension of refugee admissions from across the globe as well as other provisions.

The Justice Department has not yet filed an appeal in that case, but is expected to. That appeal would go to another appeals court, the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.