A federal appeals court decided unanimously Friday that President Trump’s latest travel ban violates the law, but the ruling will not take effect until the Supreme Court reviews a likely appeal.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said Trump had exceeded his authority in ordering that more than 150 million nationals of predominantly Muslim countries be barred from entering the United States.

The court faulted the president for failing to make a “legally sufficient” finding that entry of those barred would be “detrimental to the interests of the United States.”

Trump’s order “nullified” a federal immigration law passed by Congress and overrode “broad swaths of immigration laws that Congress has used its considered judgment to enact,” the court said.


The 9th Circuit, limiting an injunction against the ban by a Honolulu-based federal judge, said it should not be enforced against those who have a “bona fide relationship” to a person or entity in the United States. Those would include people with close family in the United States or a formal relationship with an entity, such as a university or corporation.

However, the Supreme Court this month ruled the president’s full travel ban could go into effect while legal appeals are weighed in lower courts.

Trump issued the ban in September, after two earlier efforts to restrict travelers were overturned by federal courts. The current version targets those coming to the United States from Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen.

maura.dolan@latimes.com


Twitter: @mauradolan