HONOLULU (AP) – Hawaii’s Democratic lawmakers on Thursday criticized Attorney General Jeff Sessions after he expressed amazement on a radio show that a “judge sitting on an island in the Pacific” could stop the president’s travel ban.
U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono responded by trying to give Sessions a civics lesson on Twitter, saying Hawaii has been a U.S. state for 58 years.
The senator said later in a telephone interview the remarks showed a lack of awareness about the separation of powers between the judiciary and executive branches.
U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson last month blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order prohibiting new visas for people from six Muslim-majority countries and temporarily halting the U.S. refugee program. The Trump Administration appealed the ruling.
Sessions told the “Mark Levin Show” he’s confident the president will prevail with his administration’s appeal of Watson’s travel ban ruling.