Trump administration amends travel ban start date in an attempt to keep it alive

On Wednesday, the Trump administration modified the start date of the proposed travel ban executive order in an attempt to keep it alive, Reuters reported.

The executive order, which is seeking a 90-day ban on travel to the United States for people from six Muslim-majority nations, has been making its way through the courts since it was first signed by President Donald Trump several months ago. The start date on the original order was March 16. As USA Today reported, the retooling of the order will prevent the Supreme Court from declining to hear the case because parts of the order have already expired.

Omar Jadwat, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, told Reuters that Trump’s revision signals larger legal issues within the order.

"And yet again, these revisions underline that the one thing the president has consistently wanted throughout is a Muslim ban," he added.

Moreover, Shayan Modarres, legal counsel for the National Iranian American Council, explained in a statement provided to Mic that the continued effort to carry out this specific order could mean the administration plans to make the ban permanent if it passes through the Supreme Court.

“As has been noted numerous times, there was a provision in each Executive Order to make the ban permanent by Presidential decree," Modarres said. "For nations including Iran, the administration has clearly stated its intention to make the ban permanent."

The legal maneuver by the Trump administration comes just two days after a three-judge panel on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the order yet again, ruling that it "exceeded the scope of the authority delegated to him by Congress,” Mic reported.

The ban was additionally struck down by the Virginia-based 4th Circuit on May 25. In that case the court said the order "drips with religious intolerance, animus and discrimination.”

Following the 4th Circuit ruling, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement, “The Department of Justice will continue to vigorously defend the power and duty of the executive branch to protect the people of this country from danger, and will seek review of this case in the United States Supreme Court."