US President Donald Trump’s renewed attempt to temporarily ban travel to the States from six Muslim-majority countries has been blocked by an appeals court.
The three judges said they were unanimous in their decision that Trump’s executive order violated the First Amendment’s prohibition of government establishment of religion.
They said: "The order does not offer a sufficient justification to suspend the entry of more than 180 million people on the basis of nationality.
"National security is not a ‘talismanic incantation’ that, once invoked, can support any and all exercise of executive power."
They upheld an earlier court ruling, which stated that the President had exceeded the authority Congress granted him in making national security judgments in the realm of immigration without adequate justification.
The Trump administration has already sought a Supreme Court review of the ruling.
Trumps executive order suspended travel from six mainly Muslim countries for 90 days to give the administration time to conduct a review of its vetting procedures.
Yesterday’s ruling stated that Trump was entitled to carry out a review of vetting procedures, but the 90-day travel suspension to allow this to take place will expire on Wednesday.
The administration has argued that the legal challenges to the ban have ‘stopped the clock’ and its proposed ban should be extended.
It is pushing for justices to hear its appeal on the court ruling before they break for the summer.
