A federal judge in Hawaii has placed a nationwide hold on the key aspects of US President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban after hearing arguments that the executive order discriminates on the basis of nationality.
The executive order was put on hold just hours before the new restrictions were to take effect.
U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson said sections of the new travel order likely amounted to a violation of the First Amendment’s establishment clause, which forbids the government from disfavoring certain religions over others, The Huffington Post reported.
“The illogic of the Government’s contentions is palpable. The notion that one can demonstrate animus toward any group of people only by targeting all of them at once is fundamentally flawed,” Watson wrote.
The ban was scheduled to begin at 12:01 am ET (9:30 am IST) on Thursday.
Hawaii says the ban would harm its tourism industry and the ability to recruit foreign students and workers.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump, speaking at a campaign rally in Nashville, denounced the ruling, calling it an “unprecedented judicial overreach”. He called the revised travel ban a watered-down version of the original.
“We are going to fight this terrible ruling. We’re going to take this as far as we need to, right up to the supreme court,” he said.
“I think we ought to go back to the first one [executive order] and go all the way … We’re gonna win it, we’re gonna win it,” he added.
