A temporary restraining order against Donald Trump’s Muslim ban 2.0 is now a preliminary injunction after a Wednesday ruling by the Hawaii-based federal judge who initially issued the TRO. Judge Derrick Watson rejected the Trump Justice Department’s argument that he should ignore things Trump said publicly about the ban:
"Where the 'historical context and "the specific sequence of events leading up to"' the adoption of the challenged Executive Order are as full of religious animus, invective, and obvious pretext as is the record here, it is no wonder that the Government urges the Court to altogether ignore that history and context," Watson wrote. "The Court, however, declines to do so. ... The Court will not crawl into a corner, pull the shutters closed, and pretend it has not seen what it has." [...]
The judge said he was sensitive to concerns that Trump's public remarks from the presidential campaign and since taking office should not forever preclude him from taking necessary security steps, but that the Justice Department had failed to show a bona fide difference in the motivation behind the second executive order.
"The Court recognizes that it is not the case that the Administration’s past conduct must forever taint any effort by it to address the security concerns of the nation," Watson wrote. "Based upon the preliminary record available, however, one cannot conclude that the actions taken during the interval between [the] revoked Executive Order .. and the new Executive Order represent 'genuine changes in constitutionally significant conditions.'"
This one is likely to go back to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and an appeal of a Maryland decision is already at the 4th Circuit. Whatever the outcomes of those appeals, it’s likely that this will end up at the U.S. Supreme Court in the end.