HONOLULU — Hours before it was to take effect, President Donald Trump's revised travel ban was put on hold Wednesday by a federal judge in Hawaii who questioned the government's argument that the measure was motivated by national security concerns. The attorneys general argue that the revised ban retains the unconstitutional components of the original order, including a broad ban on entry by nationals from six predominantly Muslim countries and a suspension of the refugee program. District Judge Derrick Watson issued his ruling Wednesday after hearing arguments on Hawaii's request for a temporary restraining order involving the ban.His ruling prevents the executive order from going into effect Thursday.More than half a dozen states are trying to stop the ban, and federal courts in Maryland, Washington state and Hawaii heard arguments Wednesday about whether it should be put into practice.Hawaii argued that the ban discriminates on the basis of nationality and would prevent Hawaii residents from receiving visits from relatives in the six mostly Muslim countries covered by the ban.The state also says the ban would harm its tourism industry and the ability to recruit foreign students and workers. Judge Watson concluded in his ruling that while the order did not mention Islam by name, “a reasonable, objective observer ... would conclude that the Executive Order was issued with a purpose to disfavor a particular religion.” Watson was appointed to the bench by former Democratic President Barack Obama. If the Ninth Circuit were to uphold the Hawaii court’s ruling, an appeal to the Supreme Court would be complicated by its current makeup of four conservative and four liberal judges, with no ninth justice since the death of Antonin Scalia more than a year ago. The ruling, granting a request for a temporary restraining order by the state of Hawaii and Ismail Elshikh, stalls the president’s second attempt to suspend admission of nearly all refugees for 120 days and to restrict visas for nationals from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days. Hawaii and other opponents of the ban claimed that the motivation behind it was Trump’s campaign promise of “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.”

In Washington state, a group of plaintiffs applying for immigrant visas asked U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle - who suspended the first ban - to stop the new order. In Maryland today, U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang said he will issue a ruling in another lawsuit challenging the travel ban, but he did not promise that he would rule before the ban takes effect at 12:01 a.m. Thursday.
A U.S. federal judge in Hawaii, finding the revised federal immigration/refugee executive order violates the U.S. Constitution's religious establishment clause, grants the state of Hawaii's motion for a nationwide temporary restraining order on these rules that were set to become effective at midnight. President Donald Trump vows to appeal this ruling. Two other federal courts held hearings on similar requests filed by the states of Maryland and Washington; neither of these judges issued a ruling.