NEW ORLEANS - A federal judge has blocked a Louisiana law that prevents people without birth certificates from marrying.

The judge's preliminary injunction means Viet Anh "Victor" Vo is likely to win his constitutional challenge of the state law if it goes to trial.

Vo is a U.S. citizen who has lived in Louisiana since he was three months old, but he can't get a birth certificate because he was a Vietnamese refugee born in an Indonesian camp.

The judge says Louisiana's law violates his equal protection rights and denies him the fundamental right to marry.