Trump’s travel ban again fails to move judges
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PRESIDENT Donald Trump’s revised travel ban suffered another federal court setback when a judge in Maryland rejected a revised measure that targets six predominantly Muslim countries.
Judge Theodore Chuang in Greenbelt, Maryland, ruled in a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups representing immigrants, refugees and their families. The groups argued that the underlying rationale of the ban was to discriminate against Muslims, making it unconstitutional.
Chuang granted a preliminary injunction on a nationwide basis.
He called Trump’s statements about intentions to impose a Muslim ban “highly relevant.”
Trump’s second executive order does include changes from the first order, Chuang noted, such as the removal of a preference for religious minorities in the refugee process.
“Despite these changes, the history of public statements continues to provide a convincing case that the purpose of the Second Executive Order remains the realization of the long-envisioned Muslim ban,” he said.
Details of the implementation of the orders also indicate that national security isn’t the primary purpose of the ban, Chuang said.
“The fact that the White House took the highly irregular step of first introducing the travel ban without receiving the input and judgment of the relevant national security agencies strongly suggests that the religious purpose was primary and the national security purpose, even if legitimate, is a secondary, post hoc rationale,” he said.
Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s national Immigrants’ Rights Project and one of the attorneys on the case, said: “The Maryland court saw through the government’s legal maneuvering and recognized the new order for what it was: a Muslim ban.
“And importantly, he issued a preliminary injunction, not just a (temporary restraining order), so the injunction will remain in place through trial, and not just for a couple of weeks.”
On Wednesday, a judge in Hawaii also rejected the ban.
Government lawyers argued that the ban was substantially revised from an earlier version signed in January that was later blocked by a federal judge in Washington state.
They said the ban was ordered in the interests of national security to protect the US from “radical Islamic terrorism.”
The Maryland plaintiffs also argued the ban illegally reduces the number of refugees authorized to enter the US this year.
Chuang granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting the enforcement of the travel ban nationwide pending further orders from the court. He declined to stay the ruling should an emergency appeal be filed.
The White House did not immediately respond to the Maryland ruling.
The Wednesday ruling came from US District Judge Derrick Watson in Honolulu, who rejected claims the travel ban is about national security, not discrimination. Watson also said Hawaii would suffer financially if the executive order constricted the flow of students and tourists to the state, and that Hawaii was likely to succeed on a claim that the ban violates First Amendment protections against religious discrimination.
‘Religious animus’
Watson criticized what he called the “illogic” of the government’s arguments and cited “significant and unrebutted evidence of religious animus” behind the travel ban. He also noted that while courts should not examine the “veiled psyche” and “secret motives” of government decision-makers, “the remarkable facts at issue here require no such impermissible inquiry.”
Trump called the ruling an example of “unprecedented judicial overreach” and said his administration would appeal it to the US Supreme Court. He also called his new travel ban a watered-down version of the first one, which he said he wished he could implement.
“We’re going to win. We’re going to keep our citizens safe,” the president said at a rally in Nashville. “The danger is clear. The law is clear. The need for my executive order is clear.”
Trump’s initial travel ban, issued on a Friday in late January, brought chaos and protests to airports around the country as travelers from seven nations — Somalia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya and Yemen — were barred.
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