The Trump team's own statements may keep hampering their travel ban efforts
US District Judge Derrick Watson put an emergency stop on Trump's revised travel ban on Wednesday - just hours before it was scheduled to go into effect.
In his opinion, Watson centers on the historical background and the context of the executive order. "The record before this Court is unique," said Watson in his opinion. "It includes significant and unrebutted evidence of religious animus driving the promulgation of the Executive Order and its related predecessor."
"The illogic of the Government's contentions is palpable," Watson added.
He offered the following example from CNN's television broadcast of an interview between Anderson Cooper and Trump last year:
The judge included an excerpt from an interview with NBC's Meet the Press from October the same year:
In response to the revised travel ban that replaced the first executive order - which was slapped down by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in February - Watson argued in his ruling that the White House intended to prioritize religion above secularism with its travel ban, citing statements from an adviser to Trump:
Advocacy groups like the American Civil Liberties Union echoed Judge Watson's sentiments in a statement released after the ruling:
"We are pleased but not surprised by this latest development and will continue working to ensure the Muslim ban never takes effect," the ACLU tweeted, moments after the verdict.