Washington
The Justice Department filed papers in federal court in Maryland, setting up a new legal showdown in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, located in Richmond, Va.
This week, federal judges in Hawaii and Maryland issued orders against the travel ban, finding that it violated the First Amendment by disfavoring a particular religion.
If the Justice Department had appealed the Hawaii order, the case would have gone to the same San Francisco-based appeals court that rejected an earlier version of the travel ban.
Critics of the executive order call it an attempt to fulfill President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States.
The administration denies it is a Muslim ban and says the order aims to prevent terrorism by blocking visitors from terror-prone countries where screening of individuals seeking U.S. visas may not be effective.
