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Washington’s top lawman uses strategic streak to fight Trump

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson smiles at a news conference about a federal appeals court's refusal to reinstate President Donald Trump's ban on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017, in Seattle. The ruling dealt another legal setback to the new administration's immigration policy. In a unanimous decision, the panel of three judges from the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to block a lower-court ruling that suspended the ban and allowed previously barred travelers to enter the U.S. An appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is possible. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson smiles at a news conference about a federal appeals court's refusal to reinstate President Donald Trump's ban on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017, in Seattle. The ruling dealt another legal setback to the new administration's immigration policy. In a unanimous decision, the panel of three judges from the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to block a lower-court ruling that suspended the ban and allowed previously barred travelers to enter the U.S. An appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is possible. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson) Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson smiles at a news conference about a federal appeals court's refusal to reinstate President Donald Trump's ban on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017, in Seattle. The ruling dealt another legal setback to the new administration's immigration policy. In a unanimous decision, the panel of three judges from the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to block a lower-court ruling that suspended the ban and allowed previously barred travelers to enter the U.S. An appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is possible. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

By Associated Press 1 min read

SEATTLE (AP) – Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who took on President Donald Trump’s travel ban, spent his formative years playing competitive chess.

He twice won the state championship and says the game taught him the strategic thinking that’s helped him win in politics and in court.

The approach paid off in the case against the ban – first with an order from a federal judge in Seattle that blocked nationwide enforcement, then with a resounding win at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the lower-court decision.

Ferguson, a boyish 51-year-old Democrat, is serving his second term as Washington’s top lawyer.

His office has launched other significant lawsuits, including one against President Barack Obama’s administration over cleanup of the Hanford nuclear reservation, where the government made plutonium for weapons.