Donald Trump blasts court ruling against travel ban

US President Donald Trump has taken a swipe at a federal court that upheld a block on his controversial travel ban targeting citizens from six Muslim majority nations.

"Well, as predicted, the 9th Circuit did it again - Ruled against the TRAVEL BAN at such a dangerous time in the history of our country. S.C.," Mr Trump wrote on Twitter tonight.

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit yesterday kept in place a lower court injunction on the ban, arguing the president had overstepped his authority and that the order discriminated against travellers based on their nationality.

The "S.C." in Mr Trump's tweet is an apparent reference to the US Supreme Court.

The so-called travel ban was already headed for the Supreme Court as another federal appeals court had ruled against the Republican president, and the Justice Department had asked the high court to hear the case.

"The president, in issuing the executive order, exceeded the scope of the authority delegated to him by Congress," the three justices in the California-based court said in a unanimous ruling.

The judges ruled against Mr Trump on both the effort to bar travellers from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days, and on the clause suspending the refugee program for 120 days.

The Trump administration argues the measures are needed to ward off potential terror attacks. Critics say the ban violates the US constitution by specifically targeting Muslim-majority countries.