U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday denounced the Seattle judge who lifted a ban for citizens of seven mainly Muslim countries, vowing that his government would reinstate it as affected travellers scrambled for tickets to try to quickly enter the United States.

The federal judge in the state of Washington on Friday blocked Trump’s week-old order to stop people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from traveling to the United States as his administration develops stricter vetting rules for immigrants and travellers that Trump says are needed to prevent attacks.

Washington state is the first to test the broad constitutionality of Trump’s travel ban, which has been condemned by rights groups that consider it discriminatory.

“The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!” Trump said on Twitter. It is unusual for a president to attack a member of the judiciary, which is an independent arm of the U.S. government. (NAN)