The latest legal dominoes began falling Thursday after Washington state attorney general Bob Ferguson, who successfully sued to block Trump's first travel ban, said he will ask a federal court to extend the current temporary restraining order to cover the new one.
Shortly afterward, New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman announced he would join the court fight, followed by Massachusetts attorney general Maura Healey, who described the president's latest order as an attempt to "make good on his campaign promise to implement a Muslim ban."
Ferguson, while acknowledging the travel ban has been "narrowed" in the latest version, said that "does not mean that it’s cured its constitutional problems.”
Late Thursday, U.S. District Court judge James L. Robart granted Oregon’s request to join Washington and Minnesota in the case opposing the travel ban. Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said the executive order has hurt Oregon, its residents, employers, agencies, educational institutions, health care system and economy.
Last month, a federal judge in Seattle issued the temporary restraining order halting the initial ban after Washington state and Minnesota sued. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to reinstate the order, which applied nationwide.
The Trump administration went back to the drawing board after Washington state's legal challenge of the initial ban convinced the court to temporarily block it.
The revised executive order bars new visas for people from six predominantly Muslim countries — Iran, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and Libya — and temporarily halts the U.S. refugee program. The ban does not apply to persons with green cards or travelers who already have visas.
