participate in discrimination against members of the Muslim faith." However, the court denied the motion to intervene. Hawaii has filed its own suit, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii. On February 6, a group of former top U.S. foreign policy, national security and intelligence officials filed a joint declaration in support of Washington and Minnesota. The group stated that the executive order "cannot be justified on national security or foreign policy grounds"; was "ill-conceived, poorly implemented and ill-explained"; and injures U.S. interests. Madeleine Albright, Avril Haines, Michael Hayden, John Kerry, John E. McLaughlin, Lisa Monaco, Michael Morell, Janet Napolitano, Leon Panetta, and Susan Rice signed the declaration. On the same day, amicus briefs in support of the challenge were filed by Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Southern Poverty Law Center; HIAS; the Anti-Defamation League; the Service Employees International Union (SEIU); and a group of four constitutional scholars (Kristin Collins, Judith Resnik, Stephen I. Vladeck, and Burt Neuborne). Also on February 6, an amicus brief in support of the challenge was filed by 15 states and the District of Columbia, represented by their respective attorneys general. The states signing on to the brief were New York, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia. This followed the release of a joint statement by the attorneys general calling the executive order "unconstitutional, un-American and unlawful." On February 7, New Hampshire and North Carolina as represented by their respective attorneys general joined the amicus brief in support of the challenge. This brings the total states in support of the challenge to 17 in addition to the District of Columbia. Also on February 7, 45 additional companies and 14 startups also joined the tech industry amicus brief in support of the challenge. Notable companies include Adobe, Akamai, GoDaddy, HP Inc, SpaceX, and Tesla. This brings the total number of companies in support of the challenge to 156. Denial of stay On February 9, the three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit, in a per curiam decision, unanimously denied the request for a stay of the temporary restraining order. The court, quoting the Supreme Court case Nken v. Holder, made clear that "a stay is not a matter of right, even if irreparable injury might otherwise result." Because of this, the court needed to answer four questions under