Attorneys from the state of Hawaii filed a lawsuit on Wednesday to halt President Trump’s revised executive order that places US entry restrictions on refugees and travelers from six Muslim-majority countries.
Hawaii has thus become the first US state to sue in order to stop the revised travel ban, which has been dubbed as Trump travel ban 2.0.
Several other states said on Thursday they would move forward with legal challenges against the revised executive order signed by Trump.
"It’s not too dissimilar from what you saw last time, so again you’ve seen states file lawsuits challenging the legality of this executive order, and then it will be left to a judge to determine whether Muslim Ban 2.0 is lawful or unlawful. And I believe just like last time, another federal judge will rule that Muslim Ban 2.0 is indeed unlawful," said Arjun Sethi, a law expert.
The revised executive order, which could take effect on March 16, will impose a 90-day ban on travel to the United States by citizens of Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Iran, Somalia and Libya, while excluding Iraq from the list. It will also ban entry of all refugees for 120 days.
The Hawaii federal court argued that the new travel ban still violates the US Constitution despite revising the previous version.
According to experts, the Hawaii court has to prove the revised travel ban still discriminates against Muslims on purpose and thus violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
"The establishment clause prohibits the US government from favoring one religion over another. And that is indeed part of the first amendment. The first amendment guarantees the right to free speech, religious expression and association. And that is correct. I believe this executive order violates the establishment clause of the first amendment because it favors one religion or multiple religions over another, namely Islam," said Arjun Sethi.
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