Federal Court Blocks Trump Birthright Citizenship Order

Ruling protects all children born on U.S. soil from exclusion under executive order.

WASHINGTON — A federal court in New Hampshire on Thursday blocked the enforcement of President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at restricting birthright citizenship, granting a nationwide preliminary injunction and certifying a class that protects all children born on U.S. soil.

The ruling, delivered from the bench, comes in Barbara v. Donald J. Trump, a case filed June 27 by the American Civil Liberties Union and several partner organizations following a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Trump v. CASA. That decision had opened the door for partial implementation of Trump’s order, prompting a flurry of legal challenges across the country.

The ACLU — along with affiliates in New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts, and supported by the Legal Defense Fund, the Asian Law Caucus, and the Democracy Defenders Fund — argued the order violated the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of a nationwide class of newborns affected by the ex…