Washington State Pushes For Tuesday Hearing To Halt Enforcement Of Trump's New Travel Order

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Nicholas Kamm / AFP / Getty Images

WASHINGTON — Already Monday, states and the federal government are ratcheting up their clash over President Trump's new travel order — with new states formally joining the fight in Washington state and the Justice Department looking to push back one proposed hearing until after the new executive order is due to take effect.

In Seattle, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a request that US District Judge James Robart apply his injunction halting enforcement of the first executive order against the two key travel and refugee bans in the new order.

Notably, Ferguson's office is asking for a hearing to be held on Tuesday to address the request — a day before hearings have been set in two other cases challenging the new executive order, which is due to go into effect at 12:01 a.m. ET Thursday.

The move from Ferguson followed the filing of an amended complaint in the Washington case to address the specifics of the second executive order — and also expanding the states behind the lawsuit to include California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, and Oregon. Minnesota, which initially joined Washington's litigation against the first executive order, does not appear as a plaintiff in the new complaint.

Meanwhile, in a case brought by the Council on American–Islamic Relations in Virginia, the Justice Department pushed back on a request for a Wednesday hearing on a newly filed request for a temporary restraining order in that challenge, asserting that the defendants “have not diligently prosecuted” their original complaint against the first order.

The Justice Department has asked for the hearing to be moved to Friday — after the new executive order is due to take effect.

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