A federal judge in Seattle on Friday temporarily blocked President Trump’s executive order banning entry into the United States from seven Muslim-majority countries.
US District Judge James Robert, who was appointed by President George Bush in 2003, issued a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration's restrictions, ruling that the ban would be immediately stopped nationwide.
“The Constitution prevailed today,” Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a statement. “No one is above the law, not even the President.”
Reacting to the lawsuit, White House attorneys issued a response brief, claiming that Washington state is unable to challenge the President and his intentions.
“Every President over the last 30 years has invoked this authority to suspend or impose restrictions on the entry of certain aliens or classes of aliens, in some instances including classifications based on nationality,” the brief reads, according to the Seattle Times. The brief also claims that foreign nationals do not have the constitutional right to enter the country.
In Attorney Ferguson’s 90-page lawsuit, he claims the Trump administration is violating the Constitution’s protections for religious freedom. The state of Minnesota has also joined the state of Washington’s lawsuit which is backed by major companies including Amazon, Expedia, and several institutions of higher-education.
New York and Virginia have also taken legal action against the president's ban.
Attorney Ferguson filed his lawsuit on Monday, promising to continue his fight against the ban.
“I want to be very clear, what the judge announced today was nationwide the president’s executive order does not apply,” he told reporters on Friday.
President Trump’s order banned immigration for 90 days from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. It also halted the admission of Syrian refugees indefinitely along with all other refugees for 120 days, sparking confusion and outrage resulting in mass protests across the states.
"We only challenged the parts that are actually affecting people immediately, which are the parts about refugees and the parts about targeting these seven countries,” Washington Solicitor General Noah Purcell told reporters, “the parts that have getting so much attention and have been causing such immediate harm to people, stranding them oversees and such, are enjoined right away."
Earlier in the day, State Department officials announced that fewer than 60,000 visas had been revoked under the travel ban. The officials revealed the number after a government lawyer in a Virginia courthouse claimed that 100,000 visas had been rescinded.
The White House has not officially responded to the Seattle court ruling. The Independent has reached out to the Trump administration for comment.
