The SEC can appeal, yes. Ripple's lawyer, John Deaton, said that the SEC's appeal of the XRP case will not be a problem, as it will take 2 years to rule on it, and the current decision will remain in place during that time.
District Judge Analisa Torres assigned the Ripple case to Justice of the Peace Netburn for a general pretrial hearing, and Sarah Netburn is a judge who has previously made statements in the case. Specifically, that the SEC "lacks fidelity to the law." Based on this, we can say that the judge is formally on the side of Ripple.