HONOLULU (AP) -- A federal judge in Hawaii has put President Donald Trump's revised travel ban on hold.
U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson issued his ruling Wednesday after hearing arguments on Hawaii's request for a temporary restraining order involving the ban.
His ruling prevents the executive order from going into effect Thursday.
More than half a dozen states are trying to stop the ban, and federal courts in Maryland, Washington state and Hawaii heard arguments Wednesday about whether it should be put into practice.
Hawaii argued that the ban discriminates on the basis of nationality and would prevent Hawaii residents from receiving visits from relatives in the six mostly Muslim countries covered by the ban.
The state also says the ban would harm its tourism industry and the ability to recruit foreign students and workers.
The judge in Hawaii who put President Donald Trump's revised travel ban on hold was nominated to the federal bench by President Barack Obama.
U.S. District Judge Derrick Kahala Watson got his nod in 2012 and is currently the only Native Hawaiian judge serving on the federal bench and the fourth in U.S. history.
He received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1991.
His 43-page decision Wednesday was released less than two hours after the hearing ended.
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