Federal Judge Blocks Trump's Birthright Citizenship Order Nationwide
| 2025-07-11
American flags are seen during a protest outside the US Supreme Court over President Donald Trump's move to end birthright citizenship as the court hears arguments over the order in Washington, DC, on May 15. Drew Angerer/AFP/Getty Images
A US judge halts President Trump’s order ending birthright citizenship, granting nationwide protection for children born to non-citizens.
The decision comes despite a recent Supreme Court ruling that limited the power of lower courts to issue sweeping nationwide injunctions. However, the Supreme Court left open the option of class-action litigation, which Judge Laplante used to extend protection across the country.
“This is going to protect every single child around the country from this lawless, unconstitutional and cruel executive order,” said Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, in a statement following the ruling.
The Trump administration has consistently defended the policy, arguing that it restores the Fourteenth Amendment to its “original intent.” Under the executive order, children born to parents who are in the United States unlawfully or on temporary visas would be denied automatic citizenship.
Speaking in court, Judge Laplante described US citizenship as “the greatest privilege that exists in the world” and stated that sudden changes to long-established policy without legislative debate pose a significant constitutional risk.
The White House criticised the ruling, calling it “an obvious and unlawful attempt to circumvent the Supreme Court’s clear order against universal relief.” A spokesperson said the administration would appeal the decision.
The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and several immigrant families, including a Honduran asylum-seeker living in New Hampshire who is expecting a child this autumn and a Brazilian family with a newborn. Attorneys for the Department of Justice argued that class-action certification was inappropriate without further fact-finding about the parents’ immigration circumstances. Judge Laplante, however, said there was no time for such discovery given the policy’s imminent implementation.
“I’m the judge who wasn’t comfortable with issuing a nationwide injunction. Class action is different,” Laplante remarked during the hearing.
In his 38-page written order, the judge concluded that the executive order contradicted the Fourteenth Amendment and more than a century of legal precedent. He paused the enforcement of his injunction for several days to allow the government time to appeal.
The Supreme Court’s decision in June did not rule on the merits of the birthright citizenship policy itself but clarified how lower courts can block presidential orders. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, writing in the majority opinion, noted that while nationwide injunctions should be limited, class-action lawsuits could still serve as a mechanism to halt potentially unconstitutional policies.
Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas, however, warned in separate opinions that using class-action certification as a workaround for nationwide injunctions risked undermining the court’s intent.
The Trump administration has faced multiple legal challenges over the policy. Nearly two dozen states have filed lawsuits, arguing that it violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States” are citizens.
The American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy organisations have pledged to continue their legal campaign against the measure.
“This executive order directly opposes our Constitution, values, and history,” said Devon Chaffee, executive director of the ACLU of New Hampshire. “It would create a permanent, multigenerational subclass of people born in the US but denied full rights.”
Context
The Fourteenth Amendment, ratified in 1868, established that citizenship is granted automatically to anyone born on US soil, except for the children of diplomats and certain foreign officials. This principle has underpinned American immigration and civil rights law for more than 150 years.
President Trump’s executive order, titled “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship,” aimed to redefine the scope of the amendment, sparking immediate legal and political controversy.
While the Supreme Court has signalled caution about lower courts issuing sweeping orders, the ruling in June confirmed that class-action litigation remains a valid legal path to challenge nationwide policies.
Whether Judge Laplante’s decision will ultimately survive appeals and scrutiny from the Supreme Court remains uncertain, but for now, birthright citizenship remains protected across the United States.
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