WASHINGTON – A federal judge in Hawaii has blocked enforcement of the new Trump travel restrictions. It's a nationwide ban, NBC News reports.
U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson granted a temporary restraining order, which comes just hours before the new travel ban was to take effect.
The Trump administration's most recent restrictions, which affect citizens of Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen -- and some Venezuelan government officials and their families.
Hawaii argues the updated ban is a continuation of President Donald Trump's "promise to exclude Muslims from the United States."
Other courts are weighing challenges to the policy. In Maryland, the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups are seeking to block the visa and entry restrictions in the president's latest proclamation.
Story is developing.
BREAKING: A federal judge in Hawaii has blocked enforcement of the new Trump travel restrictions. It's a nationwide ban.
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) October 17, 2017
Last week: Supreme Court dismisses 1 of 2 travel ban cases
The US Supreme Court dismissed one of two challenges to President Donald Trump's travel ban Tuesday night, increasing the possibility that the justices will not hear a challenge to the President's March executive order this term.
First, the court dismissed a Maryland case in which a district court had temporarily blocked a key provision of the March order that halted travel from six Muslim-majority countries. In a one-page order, the justices sent the case back to the lower courts and ordered that the lower court's opinion be wiped from the books.
The justices noted that the provision of the travel ban had expired and that the case no longer presents "a live case or controversy." The court said it expressed "no views on the merits" of the case.
The court did not act, however, on a separate and broader injunction in a related case brought by the state of Hawaii. That case dealt not only with a ban on travel from six Muslim majority countries, but also a ban on refugees.
The court's move to split up the two cases comes after the six-nation travel ban has expired. The refugee ban, however, has not -- it expires on October 24.
The decision means that Hawaii's case -- which dealt with both travelers and refugee admissions -- remains alive, at least for the moment. The justices will most likely only turn to that case after October 24, when the refugee provision of the March executive order also expires.