Judge blocks parts of South Carolina immigration law

South Carolina cannot enforce several key areas of its new law aimed at curbing illegal immigration, a federal judge ruled on Thursday.
The law is set to take effect on January 1.
U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel granted a preliminary injunction, ruling that the federal government has exclusive constitutional authority to regulate immigration and the state's law would disrupt federal enforcement operations.
The U.S. Department of Justice and a coalition of civil rights groups had sued to block parts of the law from going into effect.