WASHINGTON: Two US federal courts blocked the latest travel ban because they think it is biased against Muslims but Trump retaliated by threatening to revive the old, more sweeping version of the ban.

The two rulings — announced on Wednesday night and Thursday morning — came just hours before Trump’s revised executive order was to take effect, and over a month after a federal appeals court struck down the administration’s original order.

Judge Derrick K. Watson, of Federal District Court in Honolulu said the second ban was also discriminatory. The new order was too “issued with a purpose to disfavour a particular religion, in spite of its stated, religiously neutral purpose,” he wrote in a decision announced on Wednesday evening.

One of the judges termed the new ban discriminatory

Hours later, Judge Theodore D. Chuang of a federal court in Maryland observed that the second order was “the effectuation of the proposed Muslim ban” that Trump pledged to enact as a presidential candidate.

“The history of public statements continues to provide a convincing case that the purpose of the Second Executive Order remains the realization of the long-envisioned Muslim ban,” Judge Chuang wrote.

President Trump responded to the judgement at a campaign-style rally in Nashville on Wednesday night, making it clear he was not backing down. “I think we oughta go back to the first one and go all the way,” he said.

Trump also accused Judge Watson of ruling “for political reasons” and criticised the San Francisco court of appeals, which upheld the decision against his first order and will hear any appeal to the Hawaii ruling as well. “This is, in the opinion of many, an unprecedented judicial overreach. This ruling makes us look weak. You don’t think this was done by a judge for political reasons, do you? No?” he asked, and the crowd who backed him.

Democratic lawmakers, however, supported the federal courts. “Despite minor changes, the administration’s new executive order is just as legally objectionable and morally reprehensible as the original,” said Senator Ben Cardin, a ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “President Trump continues to believe that he and his administration are above the Constitution of the United States. And once again, a federal judge has carried out his constitutional duty of checks and balances on dangerous overreach from an executive order that targeted individuals based on religion,” he said.

Senator Cardin said the second order was not much different from the first executive order sparked protests at airports across the United States and was called a Muslim ban by its opponents.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2017