on december 22, 2017, a three-judge panel of the d.c. circuit denied the request for an emergency stay. in the order, the judges wrote that usdoj had failed to identify "the scope of secretary mattis's asserted authority to act in this matter entirely independently of the specific directions of the commander in chief", concluding that usdoj had failed "to make a compelling case on the current record that any of the stay factors weigh in their favor".