Federal Judge Extends Hold on Trump Travel Ban
by Democracy Now!, 30 March 2017.
(Image by David Andersson)
A federal judge in Hawaii dealt another blow on Wednesday to President Trump’s attempt to ban refugees and travelers from six majority-Muslim countries. District Judge Derrick Watson extended a nationwide halt on Trump’s executive order, which would bar citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the U.S. for 90 days—and all refugees for 120 days.
In his ruling, Judge Watson said Trump’s executive order ran afoul of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, which bars discrimination on religious grounds.
A new Gallup poll shows President Trump’s approval rating has fallen to 35 percent, the lowest level ever recorded for a president this early into a first term. Trump’s approval rating is now lower than President Nixon’s during the Watergate hearings, President Reagan’s during the Iran-Contra investigation and President George W. Bush’s rating after Hurricane Katrina.
