NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal judge says California’s ban on alligator products probably violates federal laws that allow such sales and cannot be enforced while challenges remain in court.

Companies that make and use alligator and crocodile leather and the state of Louisiana had filed two lawsuits.

Chief Judge Kimberly J. Mueller consolidated the two suits Wednesday in California’s Eastern District. She said she wasn’t considering the lawsuits’ environmental claims because that “risks crossing the line from law into policy.”

But she said Louisiana and the other plaintiffs made a strong showing that federal law controls trade in alligator and crocodile products.