Judge strikes down Trump’s birthright citizenship order in new legal challenge after Supreme Court ruling
A federal judge has blocked Donald Trump’s executive order that seeks to unilaterally redefine who gets to be a citizen, paving the way for another major Supreme Court case involving the president’s birthright citizenship challenge.
Several courts have already struck down the president’s attempt to block citizenship from newborn Americans who are born to certain immigrant parents. But the Supreme Court last month determined those judges went too far by issuing nationwide injunctions instead of applying the rulings to only the states and plaintiffs who sued the administration.
The court’s conservative majority, however, left open the possibility of plaintiffs bringing a class-action lawsuit representing all impacted newborns.
On Thursday, New Hampshire District Judge Joseph Laplante agreed to grant class-action status to all babies who stand to lose automatic U.S. citizenship when Trump’s order takes effect.
His forthcoming injunction was “not a close call,” said LaPlante, noting that thousands of children would be deprived of their citizenship should Trump’s order go into effect.
“That’s irreparable harm, citizenship alone,” he said. “It is the greatest privilege that exists in the world.”
A written decision will be stayed to allow for the Trump administration to appeal, he said.
The Supreme Court’s ruling did not address the merits of legal challenges to Trump’s executive order that redefines the scope of the 14th Amendment, but the decision opened the door for partial enforcement in states that were not represented in a wave of lawsuits against the order.
Trump’s order was also blocked from taking effect for 30 days, until later this month, to allow lower courts to revisit the scope of their injunctions and give time for opponents to file new legal challenges.
Critics have warned that allowing the president to effectively rewrite a core component of the 14th Amendment would create a patchwork system of constitutional rights and citizenship benefits — including voting rights.
More than 150,000 newborns would be denied citizenship every year under Trump’s order, according to the plaintiffs.
This is a developing story
