Temporary Restraining Orders and a Preliminary Injunction issued, halting Executive Order on Travel Ban

Several U.S. District courts issued temporary restraining orders related to the revised Travel Ban last month. Further, the U.S. District Court of the District of Hawaii in its Order found there was "unrebutted evidence of religious animus" and a "dearth of information indicating a national security purpose", and concluded that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the merits of their claim that the travel ban violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The Court further held that no "constitutionally significant" changes were made to this rewritten order and that it therefore suffered from all the same failings of the first executive order (withdrawn by the government and replaced by the rewritten order). Many of these same findings were reiterated when the District Court issued its Preliminary Injunction on March 29, 2017. In response to the government's arguments that only the four-corners of the Executive Order should be reviewed and statements made by the President during the campaign and while in office leading up to the ban should be ignored, the Judge's Order states: "The Court will not crawl into a corner, pull the shutters closed, and pretend it has not seen what it has."  The U.S. District Court's Preliminary Injunction is binding on all federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State. The Executive Branch indicated it will again appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. We will bring you further updates as the travel ban litigation progresses.