A federal appeals court in California has ruled that the Trump administration's long-delayed travel ban can go into partial effect, allowing the government to temporarily keep travelers from six Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit puts on hold a lower court ruling last month that blocked the administration's ban against travelers from Syria, Iran, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, and Chad.
The appellate panel, all Clinton appointees, ruled that a preliminary injunction issued by District Judge Derrick Watson in Honolulu may not go into full effect. But it would allow "foreign nationals who have a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States." The panel said that would include "grandparents, grandchildren, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins."
Judge Watson's ruling came in response to a challenge filed by the state of Hawaii. Neither the appellate nor the lower court rulings affect travelers from North Korea and Venezuela. In his preliminary injunction, Watson did not include people from those two countries.