A US appeal court has ruled that President Donald Trump’s order to restrict birthright citizenship is unconstitutional, affirming a lower court’s decision to block the nationwide order. This ruling comes after months of legal contention, with the order currently halted by a federal court amid various ongoing legal proceedings.

The Supreme Court had previously indicated that individual judges may have overstepped their authority by issuing nationwide injunctions against several of Trump’s policies, including the birthright citizenship order. However, the Ninth District Court of Appeals found that a Seattle district judge’s injunction was justified.

The court concluded that restricting the injunction to state levels would be ineffective, given the complexities that could arise if different states had varying citizenship rules.

Judge Ronald Gould stated that the executive order, which aimed to deny citizenship to children born to parents in the US illegally or on temporary visas, contradicted the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution. The court affirmed that denying citizenship to these individuals is unconstitutional.

While the current Supreme Court avoided a direct ruling on the order’s constitutionality, it did leave open the possibility for executive actions to be challenged through broad class-action lawsuits. A federal judge recently granted such status to children who could potentially be affected by Trump’s order, issuing a preliminary halt to its enforcement as legal proceedings continue.