clear rebuke of this executive order. the judges questioned the constitutionality. they questioned whether or not there were threats around the world that could justify this order. it s as if part of this ruling was written by former secretaries of state john kerry and madeleine albright. they themselves wrote a declaration to this court saying they were not aware of a specific threat that could justify this kind of executive order. from here this is likely headed to the supreme court. but given the clear ideological split on the court where you might see a 4-4 ruling, what happened here at the 9th circuit will most likely stand. dan simon in san francisco. let s break down some of the legal elements of this decision and areva martin civil rights attorney and cnn legal analyst joins us. this ruling was just on the suspended travel ban, whether or not it should stay in place. they ruled it should. the three judges did not shy away from some of the bigger constitutional issues here.
we have a situation where the security of our country is at stake, and it s a very, very serious situation. so we look forward, as i just said, to seeing them in court. we have full coverage this hour. cnn s dan simon is live outside the 9th court of appeals in san francisco. here in los angeles we have cnn legal analyst areva martin. and democratic strategist robin swanson. and cnn political commentator and trump supporter john phillips. first to you, dan, in san francisco. the court delivered a huge blow to president trump s agenda almost ais the board. that s right. that s why you didn t have any anti-donald trump protesters at the courthouse. had this gone the other way, this sidewalk would still be filled with tons of protesters. as for the ruling itself, the fact that two of the judges were appointed by democratic presidents, there should be no surprise in terms of how this went. but what is striking is just across the board, this was a
at this point. so we ll see. does this mean donald trump will be sworn, has to give sworn testimony? the people that were involved in creating this executive order, will they be subjected to depositions and other forms of discovery? but obviously this case isn t over. donald trump tweeted right after the decision came out and said on national television, we ll you in court. which is kind of ironic, since already two federal courts have ruled against him. but of course he has threatened to take this all the way to the supreme court, which from what we know about the court, not likely that he will be successful even at this level. okay, areva, good to see you. more on the politics of this from democratic strategist robin swanson and cnn political commentator john phillips who is a trump supporter. we just have to keep reminding our audience of that. areva mentioned this. shortly after the ruling the president tweeted out see you
that crashed into lake michigan nearly half a century ago. the engine sank first, right away, the other part floated a little bit. the pieces are there but about 100 feet apart. reporter: back then the great lakes served as a training ground for aircraft carriers and pilots learning to land on the short runways. this dive bomber crashed though the pilot survived. this salvage expert hopes to raise money to raise the plane and put it on display in chicago. you show one of these things a 6-year-old the first time they see them their eyes light up. reporter: finding the submerged plane, but he still hopes to recover the wreckage before locating and raising more planes from the world war ii era, still sitting at the bottom of the great lakes. the one thing this team knows for certain, persistence and patient do eventually pay off. george howell, cnn, chicago.
and certainly do not miss anderson cooper and kathy griffin anchoring cnn s new year s eve special live from times square at 9:00 eastern tonight. i ll be watching because you never know what s going to happen. it s always a lot of fun. still ahead, if you have some questions for us about the airasia air crash, please share them on twitter at #8501qs. next we ll get a live update on family members who are waiting to hear more from those in charge of this crash investigation.