A federal judge issued an injunction Thursday blocking the government from carrying out President Trump’s attempt to limit birthright citizenship.

Judge John C. Coughenour had previously issued a restraining order pausing the changes. His new injunction is a stronger bar, finding Mr. Trump’s executive order tramples on the Constitution.

“Citizenship by birth is an unequivocal constitutional right,” the judge wrote. “It is one of the precious principles that makes the United States the great nation that it is. The president cannot change, limit or qualify this constitutional right via an executive order.”

By issuing the preliminary injunction, Judge Coughenour now gives the Justice Department a chance to appeal the case to a higher court.

At issue is the 14th Amendment’s guarantee that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”

Mr. Trump argues that illegal immigrants and temporary visitors aren’t “subject to the jurisdiction” of the U.S. and therefore aren’t entitled to automatic citizenship. He compared them to children of diplomats, who have long been excluded from birthright citizenship.

But Judge Coughenour said that focuses on the parents, not the children being born. He said by dint of their birth on U.S. soil they are subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S., so they are covered.

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.