SEATTLE _ A federal judge in Seattle has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's order to halt immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries.
U.S. District Judge James Robart issued a temporary restraining order against the president's immigration restrictions Friday, and signaled that the order applies to cases across the country.
The suit was filed by the state of Washington and joined by Minnesota. The judge in his ruling did not address the state's claim that the immigration ban is unconstitutional, though Robart suggested that the case against the ban was likely to succeed.
The court order said enforcement of the executive order signed by Trump last week must be suspended until the judge can make a final decision.
"The Constitution prevailed today," Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a statement. "No one is above the law _ not even the president."
Washington was the first state to file suit against Trump's immigration order. It was later joined by Minnesota in the case. Massachusetts and Virginia have since also filed suit against the president's immigration restrictions.
The Washington case joins several from civil rights groups across the country that have won temporary court orders against portions of the immigration ban.
In another decision Friday, a federal judge in Boston refused to extend an order prohibiting federal officials from detaining or deporting persons with valid visas or green cards. The suit had been filed on behalf of two University of Massachusetts professors from Iran, who were subsequently admitted to the U.S.
Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton's ruling said the American Civil Liberties Union failed to show that the initial restraining order pertaining to those seeking entry to the country was still needed.
However, like the judge in the Seattle case, he did not rule on the constitutional issues, and those aspects of the case will proceed.
