A federal appeals court in San Francisco on Wednesday blocked President Trump’s plan to shift $2.5 billion from the military budget to erect a border wall, finding by a 2-1 vote that the administration violated federal law by diverting funds Congress had appropriated for other purposes.

Rejecting administration arguments that the public interest necessitated such spending, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found that those aims are “best served by respecting the Constitution’s assignment of the power of the purse...