9th Circuit Court of Appeals delivers blow to Trump travel ban

"We are very pleased at the decision, we are still going over it," said Chin.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld federal Judge Derrick Watson's ruling that struck down the President's travel ban on a half a dozen mostly Muslim countries as well as the refugee ban.

It puts the case positioned to be challenged before the Supreme Court on both constitutional and immigration grounds.

"I think what the 9th Circuit did was important because it came up with separate grounds to uphold the injunction on the travel ban," Chin said.

Chin explained, the prior appeal at the 4th Circuit, was based on constitutional grounds.

"They are thinking when it comes to the immigration statutes, we may have a chance of convincing even the most conservative judges, or justices on the Supreme Court, but we will see," said Chin.

Meanwhile, the local Muslim community continues to be subject to threats. The most recent one was just Sunday on the Facebook page of the Manoa mosque.

The head of Hawaii's Muslim Association is dismayed and believes the President's discriminatory tweets have emboldened others to step up the threats against members of the mosque.

"The intensity of the hatred is what troubles us. You are free to what every you want to say about our religion. Our religion speaks for itself, but the intensity and depth of the hatred and that's why we are very vigilant," said Hakim Oaunsafi.

Just last week, Trump asked the Supreme Court to reverse the lower court rulings and reinstitute the travel ban.

The timing of all of this is interesting, according to Chin. The U.S. Supreme Court adjourns at the end of June and isn't set to come back until the fall. By then, all of this could be moot.

Trump initially pressed for the three-month ban stressing the urgency of danger to the country. It was to start in March and end in June.

Adding to Trump's troubles is a new lawsuit filed on the grounds the president is personally profiting by the Trump hotel properties in the District of Columbia and Maryland by drawing business away from other competitors.

"We have a Trump Hotel in Waikiki. Thus far we haven't seen anything to say there is a loss of competitive advantage, meaning we haven't got any reports from the Waikiki hotels that is occurring," said Chin.

At the same time, Chin didn't rule out the possibility of Hawaii filing a Friends of the Courts brief in support of this latest Trump challenge.