Breaking: Ninth Circuit Court finds Trump's third travel ban illegal - but there's a catch

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that President Trump's third iteration of his travel ban was illegal, but there's a big catch to the decision.

What was the ruling by the Ninth Circuit?

The ruling said that the travel ban could not legally extend to family members with "strong connections" to the United States.

The challengers of the ban said that it was discriminatory and violated the U.S. Constitution based partly on statements made by the president during the 2016 presidential campaign where he repeatedly called for a ban on Muslims coming into the country.

After the election, the administration denied that the ban was on the basis of religion, and argued instead that countries selected for the ban were chosen based on the threat that covert terrorists might pose to the U.S.

Does that mean the ban will not be in force?

No - and that's the catch to the ruling. The court ruled that although their decision deemed the travel ban illegal, the ban would remain in force until the Supreme Court makes a final ruling on the matter.

And the Supreme Court has already signaled that it will rule in favor of the president on the travel ban.

Despite this, the attorney for the state of Hawaii that won the lawsuit praised the victory on his Twitter account:

"The Executive cannot without assent of Congress supplant its statutory scheme with one stroke of a presidential pen," the court said in its ruling.