A defiant Donald Trump has pledged to appeal against a federal judge's order placing an immediate halt on his revised travel ban, describing the ruling as judicial overreach that makes the United States look weak.
In granting the temporary restraining order in response to a lawsuit by the state of Hawaii, US District Judge Derrick Watson found on Wednesday that "a reasonable, objective observer ... would conclude that the executive order was issued with a purpose to disfavour a particular religion."
Early on Thursday, US District Judge Theodore Chuang issued a nationwide preliminary injunction in a similar case in Maryland brought by refugee resettlement agencies represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Immigration Law Centre.
Chuang ruled that the agencies were likely to succeed in proving that the travel ban portion of the executive order was intended to be a ban on Muslims and, as a result, violates the US Constitution's religious freedom protection.
"To avoid sowing seeds of division in our nation, upholding this fundamental constitutional principle at the core of our nation's identity plainly serves a significant public interest," Chuang wrote in his ruling.
The actions are the latest legal blow to the administration's efforts to temporarily ban refugees as well as travellers from six predominantly Muslim countries. The president has said the ban is needed for national security.
However, the orders, while a victory for the plaintiffs, are only a first step and the government could ultimately win its underlying case. Watson and Chuang were appointed to the bench by former Democratic President Barack Obama.
Trump, speaking after the Hawaii ruling at a rally in Nashville, called his revised executive order a "watered-down version" of his first.
The president said he would take the case "as far as it needs to go," including to the Supreme Court, in order to get a ruling that the ban is legal.
