Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) later asked Sessions about his April statements that he was “amazed” that a “judge sitting on an island in the Pacific” could block the travel ban, referring to U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson of Hawaii, who enjoined the March 6 version of the travel ban. Watson also enjoined the latest iteration Tuesday.
Sessions replied that he “had no idea that it would be interpreted that way.” He said a judge blocked what he believed to be a lawful order from the president, and the judge in question “just happened to be on an island in the Pacific.”
