'Almost Certainly Unconstitutional': Judge Blocks Trump's New Order On Birthright Citizenship

A US federal judge on Wednesday blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a new executive order aimed at limiting birthright citizenship, in another legal setback for President Donald Trump.

US District Judge Deborah Boardman in Greenbelt, Maryland, issued a preliminary injunction after immigrant rights groups asked her to stop the order from taking effect.

The ruling came after the US Supreme Court rejected Trump’s earlier attempt to restrict birthright citizenship in June. The court found that his 2025 order violated the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment.

Judge Says New Order Likely Unconstitutional

Boardman, who was appointed by former Democratic President Joe Biden, said Trump’s latest order was “almost certainly unconstitutional” as it applied to the group covered by the lawsuit.

The judge said the Supreme Court had already ruled that children in the class covered by the case were citizens at birth.

“This Court must, once again, preliminarily enjoin enforcement of the President’s most recent attempt to strip the right to citizenship from them,” Boardman wrote.

Her order prevents federal agencies, including the State Department, Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration, from taking steps to deny or fail to recognise citizenship for people covered by the case.

Trump’s New Order 

Trump signed the new order on August 6 after the Supreme Court rejected his earlier effort. It specifically targets so-called “birth tourism”, in which foreign nationals travel to the US to give birth so their children can obtain US citizenship.

The order also seeks to deny citizenship in certain cases involving parents who work for foreign governments, use fraud or commercial transactions to obtain citizenship, or are classified as “alien enemies”.

The US Justice Department argued that the latest order was narrower than Trump’s original directive and that the lawsuit was premature because federal agencies had not yet issued detailed guidance on how it would be implemented.

(With inputs from Reuters)