The judge is not going to change the law, or suggest that congress change the law. The reason he is even considering an extension is because an unlawful act should not benefit the person or organization that acted unlawfully.
The judge has already decided that the government acted unlawfully in this case. He has already decided, without the defendants contesting the point that there is irreparable harm being done. So the consideration for the Judge is whether to give back the time unlawfully taken.
Its by no means a slam dunk, but the Judge is very seriously considering it. He has asked for the report due today to assess whether the government have reacted well enough to the order to avoid the remedy. To my mind, they have not done enough. And some embassies continued arbitrary and capricious behavior. The judge was passed the government continued to apply the regional bans, and issued a completely unambiguous rebuke and new order about that.
Frankly the government have argued weakly from a weak position, and have not acted in good faith as they were ordered to do. I fully understand the statutory deadline, but I am about 50/50 whether we will see an extension or not.
. I am a nonplaintiff and had my interview yesterday. I am not done yet, as we have to do medicals, but things are moving. I do believe that there will be an extension.