Judge Doesn’t Extend Order on New Travel Ban

GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — A federal judge in Seattle has ruled that his order blocking President Donald Trump's original travel ban does not apply to the revised executive order.

Judge James Robart entered his ruling Thursday, one day after a federal judge in Hawaii blocked Trump's new executive order that would've suspended new visas for people from six predominantly Muslim countries and halted the U.S. refugee program.

Robart said his order last month blocking the original ban should not apply to the new one because there were enough differences between the two.

Robart noted that Washington and several other states have also asked him to block the revised ban. He said he would rule on that request later.

The federal judge in Maryland who on Thursday blocked President Donald Trump's revised travel ban that targets six predominantly Muslim countries called Trump's own statements about his intentions to impose the restrictions "highly relevant."

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang noted Trump's second executive order does include changes from the first order, such as the removal of a preference for religious minorities in the refugee process. Chuang said the purpose of the second order "remains the realization of the long-envisioned Muslim ban."

Chuang, who was appointed by then-President Barack Obama, granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting the enforcement of the travel ban nationwide pending further orders. He declined to issue an injunction blocking the entire executive order.

Government lawyers argued that the second ban was substantially revised from an earlier version signed in January that was later blocked by a federal judge in Washington state.