Donald Trump
Donald TrumpReuters

A federal judge in Hawaii on Wednesday placed a nationwide block on President Donald Trump’s revised travel order, just hours before it was set to go into effect, The Hill reported.

U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson, a President Barack Obama appointee, ruled after a hearing that the plaintiffs, the state of Hawaii and a Muslim leader, showed a "strong" likelihood to succeed in their lawsuit against the ban.

The plaintiffs argue that the policy violates the Establishment Clause and proved that "irreparable harm" is likely if temporary relief is not granted.

The new order blocks citizens of six Muslim-majority countries: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Iraqi citizens, covered by the initial ban, will be allowed to travel to the United States under the new order.

The order is temporary, until proper vetting procedures – a central campaign promise of Trump’s – can be implemented.

The restraining order issued Wednesday, which will be in place while the judge considers the case, blocks the sections of the travel ban that would have temporarily suspended the refugee resettlement program and barred nationals from six majority-Muslim countries from entering the U.S. for 90 days. The policy was set to go into effect just after midnight.

Hawaii challenged the new travel ban in court last week, arguing it would hurt Hawaii’s tourism industry and its businesses, along with Hawaii educational institutions.

Democratic attorneys general in four states subsequently announced they would try to block the travel ban in court.

Federal judges in Maryland and Washington state also heard arguments on separate lawsuits challenging the travel ban on Wednesday.

In Seattle, where the first nationwide hold was placed on Trump’s initial order, a group of states led by Washington was pushing to have the previous restraining order apply to the portions of the revised order.

Asked by The Hill about the judge's ruling, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) said he was confident Trump's travel ban would stand up in court.

"Absolutely I supported it. I think it makes a lot of sense," Ryan said at a news conference Wednesday evening. "We have gotten a lot of intelligence briefings about the lack of vetting standards or the ability to vet from certain countries. I have no doubt that this [the travel ban] will stand."