Trump vows to appeal against ‘Muslim ban’ ruling

US President Donald Trump has pledged to appeal against a federal judge’s order placing an immediate halt on his revised travel ban, describing the ruling as judicial overreach that made the United States look weak.

In granting the temporary restraining order in response to a lawsuit by the state of Hawaii, US District Judge Derrick Watson found yesterday that

A reasonable, objective observer … would conclude that the executive order was issued with a purpose to disfavour a particular religion.

Early today, US District Judge Theodore Chuang issued a nationwide preliminary injunction in a similar case in Maryland brought by refugee resettlement agencies represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Immigration Law Centre.

Chuang ruled that the agencies were likely to succeed in proving that the travel ban portion of the executive order was intended to be a ban on Muslims and, as a result, violates the US Constitution’s religious freedom protection.

“To avoid sowing seeds of division in our nation, upholding this fundamental constitutional principle at the core of our nation’s identity plainly serves a significant public interest,” Chuang wrote in his ruling.
The actions were the latest legal blow to the administration’s efforts to temporarily ban refugees as well as travellers from six predominantly Muslim countries. The president has said the ban is needed for national security.

Hawaii judge halts Trump’s new ‘Muslim ban’ before it can go into effect

Trump signed the new ban on 6 March in a bid to overcome legal problems with his January executive order, which caused chaos at airports and sparked mass protests before a Washington judge stopped its enforcement in February.