BREAKING: Federal judge blocks Trump’s order to end birthright citizenship

On Thursday, US District Judge Joseph Laplante approved a nationwide class of individuals potentially denied citizenship under the order, issuing a preliminary injunction that prevents enforcement of the measure across the country. The class will include both individuals already born and unborn children who would be impacted by the order, reports CNN. In this legal context, a "class" is a group of people who are represented together in a class action lawsuit.

"The preliminary injunction is just not a close call to the court,” Laplante stated during the hearing. “The deprivation of U.S. citizenship and an abrupt change of policy that was longstanding … that’s irreparable harm.”

He said that US citizenship “is the greatest privilege that exists in the world.”

The ruling comes weeks after the Supreme Court limited lower courts' ability to impose nationwide injunctions but allowed for such outcomes in certified class action cases, which Laplante cited in Thursday’s decision.

Laplante, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush, has delayed the enforcement of his order for several days to give the Trump administration an opportunity to file an appeal.

Back in February, Laplante halted the enforcement of the same executive order — but limited that ruling to members of nonprofit groups who would have been affected.

“I’m the judge who wasn’t comfortable with issuing a nationwide injunction. Class action is different,” Laplante stated during the hearing. “The Supreme Court suggested class action is a better option.”

In his earlier ruling, the judge wrote that Trump’s directive “contradicts the text of the Fourteenth Amendment and the century-old untouched precedent that interprets it.”

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