Trump Takes Hawaii’s Travel Ban Injunction to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Yesterday, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) swiftly appealed a Hawaii federal judge’s preliminary injunction against a revised executive order temporarily barring the entry of people from six Muslim-majority countries and suspending the nation’s refugee program for 120 days. The appeal came a day after U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson in Honolulu refused to dismiss his temporary block of the travel ban that he issued on March 15.
Earlier this month, the DOJ had appealed Maryland district judge Theodore Chuang’s order against the travel ban to the U.S. Fourth District Court of Appeals. This means that the government is now fighting to reinstate the travel ban in two different circuits, which increases the likelihood that one of the cases will make it to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Per both rulings, Trump’s executive order discriminates against Muslims. In their opinions, both judges cited Trump’s campaign promises to suspend Muslim travel to the U.S. as proof of the order’s anti-Muslim bias.
The Hawaii ruling however is much broader than the Maryland one. Not only does it block the 90-day pause on travel to the U.S. from nationals of six majority-Muslim countries but it also blocks the 120-day moratorium on new refugee resettlement. The Maryland ruling only halted the ban on travel into the U.S. by citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.