A federal judge in Hawaii, Judge Derrick Watson, who was appointed by Barack Obama, has extended his ruling from earlier this month halting President Trump’s temporary travel ban indefinitely.
The ruling is based on a revised Executive Order signed by President Trump, after his initial travel restrictions were tied up in federal court and falsely maligned as a “Muslim ban.”
Federal judge extends order blocking Trump’s revised travel ban: https://t.co/Sr8q2mYcCr pic.twitter.com/kXcfFz3BJ1
— The Hill (@thehill) March 30, 2017
From CNN:
US District Court Judge Derrick Watson blocked the core provisions of the revised executive order two weeks ago, concluding that the order likely violates the Establishment Clause of the Constitution by disfavoring Muslims.
But Watson’s earlier decision was only a limited freeze of the executive order through a temporary restraining order.
As a result, the plaintiffs asked the judge to convert that decision into a longer-term preliminary injunction and Watson agreed Wednesday night, meaning that the President’s 90-day ban on foreign nationals from six Muslim-majority countries and the 120-ban on all refugees entering the country are now blocked indefinitely, unless any higher court changes Watson’s order or the state’s lawsuit is otherwise resolved.
The Justice Department said Thursday morning it will continue to defend the executive order.
“The Justice Department strongly disagrees with the federal district court’s ruling. The President’s executive order fails squarely within his lawful authority in seeking to protect our nation’s security, and the department will continue to defend this executive order in the courts,” a department spokesperson said in a statement.
The Hawaii judge’s ruling against the president comes on the heels of a Virginia federal judge siding with the administration’s travel restrictions. The judge, Anthony Trenga, ruled that the revised travel restrictions were different enough from the president’s initial Executive Order that it should be allowed to be implemented as written.
It should come as no surprise that the left has tried to block President Trump’s revised travel restrictions, and have been using the liberal media to repeat the lie that the restrictions constitute a “Muslim ban.” Given that different courts have issued conflicting rulings on the president’s order, it is likely that the Supreme Court will have to step in and rule once and for all on the legality of the president restricting travel from nations with high instances of terror.
And this is why it’s so important to have conservative presidents who appoint conservative judges.
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