The Ninth Circuit Court will toss Wednesday's decision by a federal judge extending the order that blocks President Donald Trump's travel ban, Larry Klayman, founder of government watchdog group Freedom Watch, told Newsmax TV.
U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson of Hawaii "is so way out – he's such a political hack . . . that I think even the Ninth Circuit will reverse him," Klayman, a former federal prosecutor, told host Steve Malzberg on Thursday's "America Talks Live."
"Despite the fact the Ninth Circuit is pretty far left, there are even some leftists on that circuit like Judge Ronald Gould who actually follow the law. I don't think this Hawaii hack judge, who happens to be a friend of [former President Barack] Obama [and] former classmate at Yale Law School, [is] going to prevail.
"But he's trying to make a name for himself. He's hoping that if the Democrats win the next election in 2020, he might be catapulted up to the Ninth Circuit or the Supreme Court. This is a complete political hack. That's all he is."
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Watson's decision bars Trump from enforcing his revised travel ban on six mostly Muslim nations while he defends it in a court battle that will stretch for months, perhaps years.
While Trump administration tailored the latest version to shed all religious references, a Honolulu federal judge found the president's campaign rhetoric, including calls for a Muslim ban and registry, point toward discriminatory intentions.
The Justice Department will probably appeal the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco, the same court that upheld the order stopping Trump's original travel order.
Watson turned an earlier temporary restraining order into a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit brought by the state of Hawaii challenging Trump's travel directive as unconstitutional religious discrimination.
Trump signed the new ban March 6 in a bid to overcome legal problems with a January executive order that caused chaos at airports and sparked mass protests before a Washington judge stopped its enforcement in February. Trump has said the travel ban is needed for national security.