Federal Judge Shuts Down Trump’s Latest Travel Ban Nationwide
Donald Trump’s second attempt to impose an un-American Muslim ban on the United States has been blocked by a federal judge in Hawaii.
Yes.
A federal judge in Hawaii issued a nationwide order Wednesday evening blocking President Trump’s ban on travel from parts of the Muslim world, dealing a political blow to the White House and signaling that proponents of the ban face a long and risky legal battle ahead.
The ruling was the second frustrating defeat for Mr. Trump’s travel ban, after a federal court in Seattle halted an earlier version of the executive order last month. Mr. Trump responded to that setback with fury, lashing out at the judiciary before ultimately abandoning the order.
Judge Derrick K. Watson had a few choice words for Trump’s lawyers, who tried to argue this isn’t a “Muslim ban” even though Trump himself and his cronies have explicitly said it is, on numerous occasions.
Administration lawyers argued in multiple courts on Wednesday that the president was merely exercising his national security powers and that no element of the executive order, as written, could be construed as a religious test for travelers.
But in the lawsuit brought by Hawaii’s attorney general, Doug Chin, Judge Derrick K. Watson appeared skeptical of the government’s claim that past comments by Mr. Trump and his allies had no bearing on the case.
“Are you saying we close our eyes to the sequence of statements before this?” Judge Watson, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, asked in a hearing Wednesday before he ruled against the administration.
Meanwhile, Pumpkin Pinochet is upset. I don’t know why; he should be starting to get used to having his ugly executive orders blocked.
UPDATE: Trump says decision to block revised travel ban by U.S. district judge in Hawaii is part of ‘unprecedented judicial overreach’
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) March 16, 2017
MORE: Trump says he’ll take case ‘as far as it needs to go,’ including to the Supreme Court https://t.co/CAQ7bx3WIQ
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) March 16, 2017
LOL! Exactly what he said the first time he failed with this fascist garbage. @Reuters https://t.co/lU3nZa59rM
— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) March 16, 2017
This guy is just unbelievable. And I mean that literally.
Trump says new travel ban is “watered down,” adds, “I think we ought to go back to the first one and go all the way” https://t.co/IpUi6ifcjN
— CNN (@CNN) March 16, 2017