The ACLU has won a court order blocking New Jersey’s stricter new driver’s license requirements, putting into limbo plans requiring 6 million drivers to show additional proof of ID before securing a license. Today, New Jersey was to join eight other states in issuing a driver’s license with a gold star in the upper right corner — a federally approved document Garden State residents could have used to board a domestic flight or visit a federal building.

But the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey filed suit against the state Motor Vehicle Commission, alleging the “TRU-ID” program was being implemented without public comment and without following the regulatory and legislative process.

“The ACLU was able to get the TRU-ID program stopped on a technicality,” ACLU-NJ executive director Deborah Jacobs said today during a news conference at the organization’s headquarters in Newark. “It’s a technicality called democracy.”

The ACLU also contends the requirements — which called for Social Security documents as proof of ID — lack sufficient privacy protections and would further marginalize populations such as the homeless and people who immigrated from other countries, who already can have a difficult time getting licenses.

Arguments are scheduled for Aug. 3 in Superior Court in Mercer County.

The MVC issued a statement late today expressing disappointment with the ACLU’s “last-minute move” to block implementation of new federal identity requirements.

“This action adversely impacts over 3 million drivers and ID holders who are up against a December 2014 enforcement deadline,” the statement read. ” … When looking at the totality of the consequences of this delay caused by the ACLU, agency traffic will be negatively impacted as well. It is our hope that this issue will be resolved as quickly as possible in the courts and we will be able to move forward with the necessary implementation plans.” More in Star Ledger.