Poli Alert Politics & Civics
Related Articles
A federal judge in Maryland issued a sweeping order late Thursday blocking the Trump administration’s attempt to deny citizenship to children born in the United States to undocumented or temporary-status parents, marking the fourth court decision to halt the controversial policy since a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June narrowed the scope of nationwide injunctions.
U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman granted a preliminary injunction in a case that had been remanded to her last month by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. She also certified a nationwide class of children born after February 19, 2025, who would be affected by President Trump’s executive order.
The order, which the president signed on his first day of his second term, directed federal agencies to stop issuing citizenship documents to babies born in the U.S. unless at least one parent is a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident. Legal experts and immigrant rights groups immediately challenged the move, citing the 14th Amendment’s long-standing guarantee of birthright citizenship.
“Plaintiffs are extremely likely to succeed on the merits,” Boardman wrote in her ruling, emphasizing that the executive order violates the Constitution’s Citizenship Clause. She added that children and families affected by the order were likely to suffer irreparable harm if the rule went into effect.
A Shifting Legal Landscape
The Trump administration argues that the 14th Amendment’s clause — which grants citizenship to anyone born in the United States and “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” — does not apply to children of undocumented immigrants or foreign nationals on temporary visas. The administration claims such individuals lack full allegiance to the U.S., and are therefore not under complete jurisdiction.
But courts have consistently disagreed. The Maryland ruling follows similar injunctions issued by other district courts and a separate nationwide pause from a New Hampshire judge in July, which was allowed under a class-action exception even after the Supreme Court curtailed broad injunctions.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6–3 that lower courts must limit injunctions to what is “necessary to provide complete relief” to the plaintiffs involved, a decision that cast doubt on several nationwide blocks of Trump’s executive actions. But the high court left open the possibility of class-action nationwide relief, which has since become a key strategy for opponents of the birthright order.
More Battles Ahead
Legal observers say the issue is likely headed back to the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the Trump administration continues to defend the order in other federal circuits, arguing that courts should only block it within the borders of states that file lawsuits — a stance critics call unworkable, given the mobility of U.S. residents.
“The notion that a child’s citizenship depends on which state they are born in is both unconstitutional and chaotic,” said a civil rights attorney involved in one of the lawsuits.
The Department of Justice has not yet responded to Thursday’s ruling. The National Immigration Law Center, one of the groups leading the legal fight, praised the decision as a “critical victory for the Constitution and for immigrant families across America.”
For now, the birthright citizenship order remains on hold as legal challenges continue to mount — and judges across the country signal a broad consensus that the executive action oversteps constitutional limits.
