Judge blocks Trump's birthright restriction

U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman on September 2 blocked President Donald Trump’s latest executive order narrowing birthright citizenship, stopping the policy before federal agencies were due to issue public guidance on how to carry it out. The ruling came in Greenbelt, Maryland, in litigation brought by CASA and other immigrant-rights advocates who had already challenged Trump’s earlier 2025 order. (usnews.com) Boardman said Trump’s August 6 order was “almost certainly unconstitutional,” according to accounts of the ruling. The order leaves the underlying dispute over the scope of birthright citizenship in court while enforcement is paused. (nbcnews.com) Trump signed the new order after the Supreme Court, in a June 30 decision, rejected his first-term-2025 effort to deny automatic citizenship to some U.S.-born children. (usnews.com) The newer order was narrower, but it again tried to carve out categories of children born in the United States who would not be recognized as citizens at birth. ### Which Trump order did the judge stop this time? August 6 is the date Trump signed the new executive order, titled “Continuing to Protect the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship,” after the Supreme Court’s June 30 decision in the earlier case. SCOTUSblog reported that the order went beyond the long-recognized exception for children of foreign diplomats and sought to exclude additional groups. (nbcnews.com) Reuters reported on August 28 that the order would deny citizenship to children whose parents work for foreign governments in the United States, are classified as “alien enemies,” or are accused of fraud to obtain citizenship. NBC News and other outlets also described the order as narrower than Trump’s January 2025 directive, but still aimed at limiting automatic citizenship for some children born in the country. (scotusblog.com) ### Why didn’t the judge block it immediately last week? August 28 was the date Boardman declined to issue an immediate temporary restraining order, saying the complaint before her still challenged Trump’s 2025 order rather than the new August 2026 directive. Reuters reported that Boardman nonetheless questioned the new order’s legality and allowed the plaintiffs to supplement their complaint on a fast schedule. (scotusblog.com) Boardman said then that the president was trying to create exceptions to birthright citizenship “with the stroke of a pen,” according to Reuters and NBC News. She also called the move “unprecedented,” signaling that the denial was procedural rather than an endorsement of the administration’s position. (usnews.com) ### What constitutional issue is at the center of the case? The 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause says that all persons born in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction are citizens of the United States. In its June 30 ruling on Trump’s earlier order, the Supreme Court said the clause sweeps broadly, with only narrow exceptions, including children of foreign ministers. (usnews.com) Boardman relied on that June ruling in blocking the new order. NBC News reported that she wrote the Supreme Court had already rejected Trump’s earlier attempt and that the court therefore had to again enjoin enforcement of the president’s latest effort to strip citizenship from children covered by the case. (usnews.com) ### Who brought the Maryland case? CASA Inc., a Maryland nonprofit, is the lead plaintiff in the District of Maryland case, according to CourtListener’s docket for Casa Inc. v. Trump. Reuters reported that immigrant-rights advocates returned to Boardman seeking relief after Trump signed the August 6 order. The case is one of several pieces of litigation tied to Trump’s attempts to narrow birthright citizenship. (scotusblog.com) SCOTUSblog separately reported in August that lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union and other civil-rights groups also returned to federal court in New Hampshire to challenge the new order. ### What happens next, and when? September 5 was the date Reuters said federal agencies were expected to issue public guidance explaining how the administration planned to implement Trump’s August 6 order. (nbcnews.com) Boardman’s September 2 ruling blocked enforcement before that guidance could take effect in the Maryland case. The next steps are further proceedings in Casa Inc. v. Trump in the District of Maryland and likely additional action in parallel cases already filed in other courts. (courtlistener.com) Court records show the Maryland case remains active under Boardman, and the broader dispute over birthright citizenship remains unresolved while appeals and related challenges continue. (usnews.com) (scotusblog.com)