--- title: Trump's Travel Ban Blocked: Judge Quotes Stephen Miller description: Statements by Stephen Miller, Rudy Giuliani and Trump "betray the Executive Order’s stated secular purpose," writes Judge Derrick Watson canonical: https://time.com/4703232/trump-travel-ban-stephen-miller-rudy-giuliani/ author: Kevin Lui article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-16T05:31:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:51:49.732Z article:section: Politics og:title: Judge Cites Trump Advisers' Comments in Travel Ban Decision og:description: The comments from Stephen Miller and Rudy Giuliani "betray the Executive Order’s stated secular purpose" og:url: https://time.com/4703232/trump-travel-ban-stephen-miller-rudy-giuliani/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt91b2dbefebe72c66/6988be9a97cdff6cd56afd6b/gettyimages-635326296.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Attends Parent-Teacher Conference Listening Session og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Judge Cites Trump Advisers' Comments in Travel Ban Decision twitter:description: The comments from Stephen Miller and Rudy Giuliani "betray the Executive Order’s stated secular purpose" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt91b2dbefebe72c66/6988be9a97cdff6cd56afd6b/gettyimages-635326296.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Comments by Stephen Miller and Rudy Giuliani Cited in Judge's Decision to Block Trump's Travel Ban > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Kevin Lui](https://time.com/author/kevin-lui/) ## Kevin Lui Mar 16, 2017 5:31 AM UTC  White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller at the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Feb. 14, 2017. White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller at the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Feb. 14, 2017. Alex Wong—Getty Images by [Kevin Lui](https://time.com/author/kevin-lui/) ## Kevin Lui Mar 16, 2017 5:31 AM UTC Public comments made by allies and advisors of President Donald Trump, as well as Trump himself, have been [cited in the decision](http://time.com/4703188/donald-trump-travel-ban-blocked-read-court-decision/?xid=homepage) made by a federal judge in Hawaii, whose ruling [temporarily blocked](http://time.com/4703177/donald-trump-travel-ban-immigration-hawaii-judge/) the White House’s revised travel ban targeting six predominantly Muslim countries hours before it would have come in to effect. The “plainly-worded statements” from Stephen Miller, Rudy Giuliani and Trump himself all “betray the Executive Order’s stated secular purpose,” wrote Judge Derrick Watson in his [decision](https://www.scribd.com/document/342018648/Travel-Ban-Decision#fullscreen&from%5Fembed) on Wednesday, which was blasted by Trump as “[judicial overreach.](http://time.com/4703198/travel-ban-donald-trump-judicial-overreach/)” Miller, senior White House policy adviser, [told Fox News](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/02/21/trump-adviser-says-new-travel-ban-will-have-same-basic-policy-outcome.html) last month regarding the revised order, that “fundamentally, you’re still going to have the same basic policy outcome” as the original. The ban sparked huge protests around the country when it was rolled out, and was later [blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court](http://time.com/4667127/donald-trump-immigration-ban-court-case/). Trump supporter and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani also went on TV in January, after the announcement of the first travel ban, and [said:](http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/316726-giuliani-trump-asked-me-how-to-do-a-muslim-ban-legally) “When \[Trump\] first announced it, he said, ‘Muslim ban.’ He called me up. He said, ‘Put a commission together. Show me the right way to do it legally.” **Read More:** [_Immigrant, Refugee Advocates Cheer Hawaii Court Ruling on Travel Ban_](http://time.com/4703207/travel-ban-hawaii-court-ruling-advocates/) The judge even cited Trump’s own words from the campaign trail in December 2015, saying “there is nothing ‘veiled’ about” his call for “[a total and complete shutdown of Muslims ](http://time.com/4139476/donald-trump-shutdown-muslim-immigration/)entering the United States.” Writing that there is nothing “secret” about Trump’s motive regarding the order, Judge Watson concluded that “the stated secular purpose of the Executive Order is, at the very least, ‘secondary to a religious objective’ of temporarily suspending the entry of Muslims.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4703232/trump-travel-ban-stephen-miller-rudy-giuliani/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4703232/trump-travel-ban-stephen-miller-rudy-giuliani/"},"headline":"Comments by Stephen Miller and Rudy Giuliani Cited in Judge's Decision to Block Trump's Travel Ban","datePublished":"2017-03-16T05:31:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:51:49.732Z","description":"Public statements by Stephen Miller, Rudy Giuliani and Trump himself \"betray the Executive Order’s stated secular purpose,\" writes Judge Derrick Watson","url":"https://time.com/4703232/trump-travel-ban-stephen-miller-rudy-giuliani/","keywords":["Courts","White House","Donald Trump","travel ban","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt91b2dbefebe72c66/6988be9a97cdff6cd56afd6b/gettyimages-635326296.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kevin Lui","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/kevin-lui/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt91b2dbefebe72c66/6988be9a97cdff6cd56afd6b/gettyimages-635326296.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Attends Parent-Teacher Conference Listening Session","caption":"Donald Trump Attends Parent-Teacher Conference Listening Session","creditText":"Alex Wong—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/courts/","name":"Courts"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4703232/trump-travel-ban-stephen-miller-rudy-giuliani/","name":"Comments by Stephen Miller and Rudy Giuliani Cited in Judge's Decision to Block Trump's Travel Ban"}}]}] ```