HONOLULU – A federal judge in Hawaii on Thursday left Trump administration rules in place for a travel ban on citizens from six majority-Muslim countries.
U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson denied an emergency motion filed by Hawaii asking him to clarify what the U.S. Supreme Court meant by a “bona fide” relationship in its ruling last month.
The Supreme Court ruled the administration could mostly enforce its travel ban, but said those “with a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States” could enter.
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Watson says the relationship question would be better posed to the Supreme Court, not him.
“This court will not upset the Supreme Court’s careful balancing and ‘equitable judgment,”‘ Watson said in his order.
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Hawaii attorney general Doug Chin objected to the administration’s omission of grandparents, aunts and uncles from the administration’s list of people meeting the definition of a close relationship.
The Trump administration had said the exemption to the ban would apply to citizens of the six countries with a parent, spouse, child, adult son or daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law or sibling already in the U.S.
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