Revised Trump Travel Ban Suffers 1st Legal Blow

US President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban executive order suffered its first legal setback on Friday as a federal judge blocked the directive’s potential impact on the family of a Syrian refugee living in Wisconsin.

Madison-based US District Court Judge William Conley issued a temporary restraining order at the request of the Syrian man, who is referred to as “John Doe” in court filings. The judge, an appointee of former president Barack Obama, said Trump’s new executive order cannot be used to delay the man’s effort to bring his wife and three-year-old daughter from Syria to the US, but is limited to the individuals involved in the case, Politico reported.

Justice Department spokespeople did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the ruling.

The court showdown in Wisconsin was just one of at least five expected to play out in the coming days as various states, organizations and individuals try to block some or all of Trump’s redrafted travel ban order from taking effect as scheduled just after midnight Wednesday night.

In Maryland, a federal judge set a hearing for Wednesday morning on a lawsuit brought by refugee aid groups.

Another hearing is set to take place in front of a federal judge in Honolulu on a travel ban lawsuit brought by the state of Hawaii.

In addition, the states of Washington and Minnesota asked Seattle-based US District Court Judge James Robart to confirm that his existing injunction against key parts of Trump’s original travel ban executive order blocks similar portions of the revised directive.

However, Robart rebuffed that request Friday night, indicating that he wanted either a motion from the federal government to escape the injunction or a motion from the states to enforce it.

In the days after Trump’s Jan. 27 directive banning travel to the US by citizens of seven-majority Muslim countries, about two dozen lawsuits were filed challenging its legality. At least five judges issued orders blocking parts of Trump’s original order.

Several of the states involved in those cases now appear to be lining up behind the Washington state-led suit, which obtained the most sweeping injunction against Trump’s original travel ban directive. Oregon joined that case on Thursday, while New York and Massachusetts officials have indicated plans to do so soon.