A federal judge in Maryland early Thursday temporarily blocked parts of President Trump’s revised travel order, according to multiple reports.
Hours earlier, a federal judge in Hawaii placed a nationwide block on Trump’s order, delivering a major blow to the president’s policy just hours before it was set to go into effect.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang in Maryland said Trump’s travel ban was still meant to discriminate against Muslims. He pointed to the president’s own comments to defend the ruling, The Washington Post reported.
{mosads}“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,” Chuang wrote.
The challenge was brought in Maryland by three organizations and six people.
Chuang blocked the part of the president’s order related to issuing visas to people from the six predominately Muslim countries targeted in the ban. The plaintiffs had “not provided a sufficient basis” for him to block other parts of the order, the judge said.
Chuang ruled he “should not, and will not, second-guess the conclusion that national security interests would be served by the travel ban.”
“In this highly unique case,” he wrote, “the record provides strong indications that the national security purpose is not the primary purpose for the travel ban.”
His temporary restraining order blocks a temporary suspension of the refugee resettlement program and a block on nationals from Iran, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Somalia from entering the U.S. for 90 days.
Trump during a rally in Tennessee Thursday night vowed to fight the Hawaii judge’s ruling.
“We’re going to take our case as far as it needs to go, including all the way up to the Supreme Court,” Trump said.
“We’re going to win,” he continued. “The danger is clear. The law is clear. The need for my executive order is clear.”
Trump and his team had argued the ban was necessary to keep the country safe.
The revised order comes after the president’s initial travel ban was blocked by the courts. The initial order barred people from the six countries in the second order plus Iraq from entering the U.S. The Trump administration was hoping the new order could withstand legal muster.
This report was updated at 7:27 a.m.