Trump administration goes to SF court to appeal travel ban block

A day after a federal judge in Hawaii refused to reinstate President Trump’s latest travel ban, the administration took its case Thursday to the federal appeals court in San Francisco.

The Justice Department filed an appeal with the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals challenging the injunction issued Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson, maintaining a nationwide freeze on Trump’s March 6 executive order.

The appeals court had rejected Trump’s previous order, which had been blocked by a federal judge in Washington state a week after Trump issued it Jan. 27.

While it was in effect, it caused turmoil at airports at home and abroad and the suspension of between 60,000 and 100,000√ travelers’ visas, by government estimates.

The court rejected the administration’s argument that judges had no authority to second-guess presidential decisions on immigration and national security.

The history of the revised executive order is “full of religious animus, invective and obvious pretext,” Watson said in a ruling Wednesday that transformed his previous temporary restraining order into a preliminary injunction, blocking Trump’s order indefinitely.