A second federal court has ruled against President Donald Trump’s highly controversial travel ban.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco on Monday refused to reinstate a revised version of Trump’s travel ban, which aimed to restrict entry into the United States for people from six majority-Muslim nations.
“We conclude that the President, in issuing the Executive Order, exceeded the scope of the authority delegated to him by Congress,” the panel of three judges wrote.
The Trump administration has already sought a Supreme Court ruling on the travel ban following a separate federal court rejecting it last month.
BREAKING: 9th circuit appeals court rules against Muslim ban. Writes: “Immigration, even for the president, is not a one-person show.”
— ACLU (@ACLU) June 12, 2017
Last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit upheld a block on Trump’s ban, which would bar travelers from entering the U.S. from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The block was upheld largely on statements Trump made during his presidential campaign when he called for a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the country.
Monday’s ruling agreed with Judge Derrick K. Watson’s opinion in March that found major parts of Trump’s ban unconstitutional. Watson argued that the travel ban targeted a specific religion.
The Trump campaign kept the call for a “Muslim ban” on its website until Monday, May 8, when the 4th Circuit heard arguments on the case.
Earlier this month, Trump doubled down on his rhetoric that appeared to have cost him in the 4th Circuit’s ruling. Following a terrorist attack in London, Trump went on a Twitter rampage, saying the United States needed a “travel ban” for an “extra level of security.”
Trump continued: “People, the lawyers and the courts can call it whatever they want, but I am calling it what we need and what it is, a TRAVEL BAN!”
The 9th Circuit cited these tweets in its decision.
The original travel ban was put into place on Jan. 27 and was supposed to be in effect for 90 days. It has been 136 days since then.
Read the 9th Circuit full decision here.
