Hawaii Sues to Block Trump Travel Ban; First Challenge to Order

By VIVIAN YEE MARCH 8, 2017

President Trump’s revised executive order barring citizens of six predominantly Muslim countries from traveling to the United States confronted its first legal challenge late Tuesday, the day after it was signed, when the State of Hawaii asked a federal judge to block it temporarily.

The court filing from the office of the attorney general of Hawaii, Doug Chin, a Democrat, may signal a wave of legal assaults on Mr. Trump’s second take on the travel ban, which preserves the fundamentals of the first while lifting restrictions on Iraqis, green card holders and lawful permanent residents, and people who are already approved to enter the United States.

The White House revised the order with an eye toward avoiding the chaos that rippled through airports after the first version was signed in late January. It also sought to patch up the first executive order’s legal vulnerabilities, which became apparent after a federal judge in Washington State issued a nationwide injunction against the travel ban.

Lawyers for Hawaii, which is also being represented by the law firm Hogan Lovells, argue that the administration’s changes are not much of an improvement. The latest filing noted that one of Mr. Trump’s top aides told Fox News in late February that while the new directive would address the legal issues that had arisen around the ban, “you’re still going to have the same basic policy outcome for the country.”

Neal Katyal, a former acting solicitor general in the Obama administration who heads the Hogan Lovells team, said Tuesday, “We absolutely agree with the president’s senior adviser, Stephen Miller, who said this executive order is the same as the last one.” Mr. Katyal said, “The same legal problems that infected the first one infect version 2.0.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/08/us/trump-travel-ban-hawaii.html?_r=0