Eric Tucker / AP

(WASHINGTON) — The White House says it expects the courts to restore President Donald Trump's ban on refugees and travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries, an executive order founded on a claim of national security.

The next opportunity for the president's team to argue in favor of the ban will come in the form of a response to a lawsuit by Washington state and Minnesota contending that Trump's order harms residents and effectively mandates discrimination. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal has ordered the Justice Department to file its briefs by 6 p.m. EST Monday.

The San Francisco-based appeals court has already turned down a Justice Department request to set aside immediately a Seattle judge's ruling that put a temporary hold on the ban nationwide. That ruling last Friday prompted an ongoing Twitter rant by Trump, who dismissed U.S. District Court Judge James Robart as a "so-called judge" and his decision "ridiculous."

Trump renewed his Twitter attacks against Robart on Sunday. "Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad!" He followed with another tweet saying he had instructed the Homeland Security Department to check people coming into the country but that "the courts are making the job very difficult!"

Vice President Mike Pence said Sunday that "we don't appoint judges to our district courts to conduct foreign policy or to make decisions about the national security." Trump himself had offered an optimistic forecast the previous night, telling reporters during a weekend at his private club in Florida: "We'll win. For the safety of the country, we'll win."