APPEALS COURT DEALS BLOW TO TRUMP'S TRAVEL BAN

President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban “speaks with vague words of national security, but in context drips with religious intolerance, animus and discrimination,” a federal appeals court said Thursday in ruling against the ban.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lowercourt ruling that blocks the administration from temporarily suspending new visas for people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

The Virginia-based 4th Circuit is the first appeals court to rule on the revised travel ban, which the administration had hoped would avoid the legal problems the first version encountered.

The Supreme Court almost certainly would step into the case if asked. Trump could try to persuade the Supreme Court to allow the policy to take effect, even while the justices weigh whether to hear the case, by arguing that the court orders blocking the ban make the country less safe.