White House chief of staff fires back over 'sanctuary ban' ruling: 'It's the Ninth Circuit going bananas'

The White House is firing back at the federal court blocking its attempted crackdown on "sanctuary cities."

"It's the Ninth Circuit going bananas," White House chief of staff Reince Priebus told reporters Tuesday evening.

Hours earlier, a federal judge in California issued a preliminary injunction blocking an executive order signed by President Donald Trump that threatened to withhold funds from cities that don't comply with federal immigration law.

Priebus signaled the White House's fight is not over, however, calling the decision "something that will be overturned eventually."

"We'll win at the Supreme Court level at some point," he continued. "We're taking action to appeal this. You'll find out soon enough."

Tuesday's temporary ruling came out of California's Northern District, whose cases are appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

The White House has previously run into trouble with the Ninth Circuit before - it's the same court that refused to reinstate Trump's travel ban in February, after a lower-court judge in Seattle issued a nationwide block on the executive order.

A revised order was subsequently blocked last month by a lower-court judge in Hawaii, whose cases are also appealed to the Ninth Circuit court.