Hawaii has filed a new request for a federal judge to change the scope of President Trump’s travel ban after an earlier attempt failed.
Hawaii is asking a federal judge to rule on which classes of people are exempt from the Trump administration’s travel ban. The filing late Friday comes after the same judge ruled on Thursday that it didn’t have the authority to rule on the scope of the ban.
But a ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said that the federal district court judge Derrick Watson does have the authority to clarify the ban. Watson originally ruled to block the ban.
The ban aims to prevent immigrants from six predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S. for 90 days and some refugees from all countries for 120 days. The countries affected are Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal from the Trump administration on the ban, after two different appeals courts put holds on it. The court allowed the White House to block travelers unless they had a “bona fide relationship” to close family members in the U.S. The White House defines “bona fide relationship” as any close family members such as parents or siblings.
But it does not allow grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles or nieces and nephews.
Hawaii asked Watson to widen the scope to allow more people such as grandparents. However, Watson declined to do so and Hawaii went to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
On Friday, the Ninth Circuit said that it lacked jurisdiction to hear the state’s appeal of Watson’s denial but said that Watson had the ability to clarify the Supreme Court’s order.
Hawaii filed another motion asking Watson to broaden the scope of the ban. The state said that the administration took too narrow of a definition of the Supreme Court’s order on the ban.
“This court should not permit the government to flout its directives at the expense of countless Americans and their loved ones,” the filing said.
Editor’s note: Correction fixes headline to say Hawaii is looking to narrow, not broaden, the Trump administration’s travel ban.
