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Judge in Hawaii blocks latest version of Trump's travel ban
HONOLULU (AP) -- A federal judge in Hawaii blocked the Trump administration Tuesday from enforcing its latest travel ban, just hours before it was set to take effect.
U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson granted Hawaii's request to temporarily block the policy that was to be implemented starting early Wednesday. He found Trump's executive order "suffers from precisely the same maladies as its predecessor."
The judge, appointed by former President Barack Obama, said the new restrictions ignore a federal appeals court ruling that found President Donald Trump's previous ban exceeds the scope of his authority. The latest version "plainly discriminates based on nationality in the manner that the 9th Circuit has found antithetical to … the founding principles of this nation," Watson wrote.
The Trump administration in September announced the restrictions affecting citizens of Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen -- and some Venezuelan government officials and their families.
The government has said the new policy was based on an objective assessment of each country's security situation and willingness to share information with the U.S.
Hawaii argued in court documents that the updated ban is a continuation of Trump's "promise to exclude Muslims from the United States" despite the addition of two non-majority Muslim countries.
Other courts are weighing challenges to the latest travel restrictions.
In Maryland, the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups are seeking to block the visa and entry restrictions in the president's latest proclamation.
Washington state, Massachusetts, California, Oregon, New York and Maryland have challenged the policy before U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle, who struck down Trump's initial ban in January.
Appeals court tosses $72 million award in talcum powder case
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A Missouri appeals court on Tuesday that vacated a $72 million award to an Alabama woman who claimed her use of Johnson & Johnson products that contained talcum contributed to her ovarian cancer has thrown the fate of awards in similar cases into doubt.
The Missouri Eastern District Court's ruled that Missouri was not the proper jurisdiction to hear a lawsuit filed by Jacqueline Fox, 62, of Birmingham, Alabama, who claimed the baby powder she used for feminine hygiene for about 25 years contributed to her cancer. She died in 2015, about four months before her case went to trial in St. Louis Circuit Court. In February 2016, a jury awarded Fox $10 million in actual damages and $62 million in punitive damages -- the first award in the lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson.
The appeals court cited a Supreme Court ruling in June that placed limits on where injury lawsuits could be filed, saying state courts cannot hear claims against companies not based in the state where alleged injuries occurred. The case involved suits against Bristol-Myers Squibb over the blood-thinning medication Plavix.
More than 1,000 others have filed similar lawsuits in St. Louis against Johnson & Johnson, which is based in Brunswick, New Jersey. In four of five trials held so far, jurors awarded more than $300 million combined.