IMMIGRATION/LEGAL/TRAVEL BAN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A second U.S. federal judge has blocked parts of President Donald Trump’s latest travel ban on people entering the United States from eight countries, dealing another legal blow to the administration’s third bid to impose travel restrictions.
U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang in Maryland, in a ruling issued overnight, said the policy as applied to six majority-Muslim countries likely violates the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition on religious discrimination. He also ruled the ban ran afoul of immigration law.
Trump’s ban would have taken effect on Wednesday but was blocked on Tuesday [10-17-17] by a U.S. federal judge in Hawaii in a separate challenge.
Together, the pair of rulings set up a high-stakes battle over the president’s executive authority that is expected to ultimately wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Trump’s latest order targeted people from Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Chad and North Korea, as well as certain government officials from Venezuela. Neither of the court rulings lifts the restrictions on North Korea and Venezuela.”
-Lawrence Hurley, “Second federal judge blocks Trump’s curbs on travel to U.S.,” Reuters, Oct. 18, 2017 05:48am