Judge refuses to block Trump’s travel ban, but previous ruling blocking the ban still stand

NEW YORK — President Donald Trump won an important victory as a Virginia judge refused to block his revised travel ban against six predominantly Muslim countries, even though the directive remains on hold due to court orders in two other states.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga in Alexandria bolsters the administration’s efforts to overturn a block on his executive order issued last week by judges in Maryland and Hawaii. While the decision won’t have any immediate effect, it is certain to be cited by administration lawyers as the cases move toward the U.S. Supreme Court.

Trenga on Friday denied a request by Muslim activists for a temporary restraining order, who said Trump’s revised March 6 executive order — like the original before it — was a disguised “Muslim ban” that discriminated against immigrants based on their religion.

The fight over Trump’s travel ban has become an early test of whether the president will be able to honor his campaign promises. Other than an early win in Boston, the administration has lost in courts across the country as technology companies, universities, civil-rights advocates and states including Washington, Hawaii and Minnesota mounted challenges.

The losses forced Trump to revise his initial executive order, signed one week after he was sworn in, though the new version — which he called simply a “watered down” one — has also been blocked by courts. The second travel ban removed Iraq from the list and clarified that people from those countries who had already received visas could enter, as well as providing a more detailed rationale.

The Maryland judge put the 90-day ban on visas for people from the six nations on hold, reinforcing a broader ruling hours earlier out of Hawaii. The decisions stopped the second order from ever taking effect.

Trump slammed the rulings, saying at a rally held right after the Hawaii decision that they “make us look weak” and that the travel restrictions are needed to protect Americans from “radical Islamic terrorists.” The Justice Department said Trump has broad legal authority to regulate immigration.

The Virginia case was brought by Linda Sarsour, a Muslim activist from Brooklyn, New York, and national cochair of the Women’s March on Washington that took place the day after Trump’s inauguration. The suit was the first that sought to use Trump’s public remarks against him court, in addition to his comments about Muslims during the campaign.

At a hearing in Alexandria on March 21, the government’s lawyer, Dennis Barghaan, said another ruling blocking the executive order wasn’t warranted because of the injunctions issued in Hawaii and Maryland. But Gadeir Abbas, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said his clients are still being harmed because “the status of the other orders isn’t durable, and they could be reversed at any time.”