RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A federal appeals court will hold a full hearing next month on a challenge to the latest version of President Donald Trump’s travel ban.
In October, a judge in Maryland became the second federal judge in the country to block the Trump administration’s ban hours before it was set to take full effect. A judge in Hawaii issued his ruling against the ban hours earlier.
The ban sought to place travel restrictions on citizens of Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and some Venezuelan government officials and their families. It was the third set of travel restrictions issued by the president to be obstructed, in whole or in part, by the courts.
The Trump administration has appealed the rulings in both the Maryland and Hawaii cases.
This week, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted to hold a full hearing on the Maryland challenge. Typically, a three-judge panel of the court hears appeals.
Oral arguments are scheduled for Dec. 8.
Three Maryland lawsuits allege that restricting travel for citizens of predominantly Muslim countries violates the U.S. Constitution. The White House has said the restrictions are aimed at keeping the American people safe.
U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang found in the Maryland cases that the administration had “not shown that national security cannot be maintained without an unprecedented eight-country travel ban.”
In Hawaii, U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson said the new ban failed to show that nationality alone makes a person a greater security risk to the U.S.
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