Another judge blocks Trump's birthright citizenship order

A federal judge on Thursday blocked President Donald Trump's executive order restricting birthright citizenship in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling on nationwide injunctions.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante granted class-action status to babies who would be affected by the order, in an apparent attempt to circumvent the high court's directives to limit injunctions to participating parties in the case.

The ACLU filed suit, arguing that those affected would suffer irreparable harm, NBC News reported.

The Supreme Court last month narrowed the scope of prior injunctions against the order, finding that lower courts likely lacked the authority to issue sweeping injunctions.

"The issuance of a universal injunction can be justified only as an exercise of equitable authority, yet Congress has granted federal courts no such power," wrote Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett. 

In a concurring opinion, however, Associate Justice Samuel Alito wrote that "today’s decision will have very little value if district courts award relief to broadly defined classes without following 'Rule 23’s procedural protections' for class certification."