The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld a lower court ruling that blocked the enforcement of President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at preventing travelers from six majority-Muslim countries from entering the United States.
The court found that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed at trial in showing that the executive order violated the prohibitions on religious discrimination contained in the US Constitution.
“Congress granted the president broad power to deny entry to aliens, but that power is not absolute. It cannot go unchecked when, as here, the president wields it through an executive edict that stands to cause irreparable harm to individuals across this nation,” wrote the chief judge of the circuit, Roger L. Gregory.
Gregory said the order “speaks with vague words of national security, but in context drips with religious intolerance, animus, and discrimination.”
The travel ban would have seen the administration suspend new visas for people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days. An original version of the ban also included Iraq on the list.
The ban also sought to stop new refugee admissions from around the world for 120 days.