Federal Judge Blocks Trump Travel Ban for Virginia Residents

McLEAN, Va. (AP) — A federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction barring the Trump administration from implementing its travel ban in Virginia, adding another judicial ruling to those already in place challenging the ban's constitutionality.

A federal appeals court in California has already upheld a national temporary restraining order stopping the government from implementing the ban, which is directed at seven Muslim-majority countries.

But the preliminary injunction issued late Monday by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria is a more permanent type of injunction than the temporary restraining order issued in the Washington state case.

Brinkema's injunction, though, applies only to Virginia residents.

In her 22-page ruling, Brinkema said the Trump administration offered no justification for the travel ban and wrote that the president's executive power "does not mean absolute power."