Federal judge issues fourth block of Trump's birthright citizenship order

A federal judge in Maryland ruled late Thursday that President Trump's administration cannot withhold citizenship from children born to people in the country illegally or temporarily, issuing the fourth court decision blocking the president's birthright citizenship order nationwide since a key U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June.

U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman's preliminary injunction was expected after the judge said last month she would issue such an order if the case were returned to her by an appeals court. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back to her later in July.

The policy, which has been the subject of a complicated monthslong legal back-and-forth, is currently on hold. Since June, two other district courts, as well as an appellate panel of judges, have also blocked the birthright order nationwide.

On the first day of Mr. Trump's second term, he signed an executive order that said people born in the United States should not automatically get citizenship if one parent is undocumented and the other isn't a citizen or green-card holder, or if both parents are in the U.S. on temporary visas. The order directed federal agencies to stop issuing citizenship documents within 30 days to people who fall into those categories.

The order drew a flurry of lawsuits, as most legal experts have said the 14th Amendment — which was ratified in 1868 — automatically offers citizenship to virtually everybody born within the U.S., regardless of their parents' immigration status, with extremely narrow exceptions.

The Trump administration argues the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment does not apply to people whose parents are in the country illegally or temporarily — citing a clause that says citizenship is granted to those who are "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States. Those parents do not necessarily have "allegiance" to the country, the government argues, so they therefore aren't "subject to the jurisdiction."

Boardman, in February, issued a preliminary injunction blocking the order nationwide. But the June ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court upended that decision and other court rulings blocking the order across the nation.

The high court's ruling in June limited the use of nationwide injunctions. In a 6-3 decision, it granted a request by the administration to narrow the injunctions against the birthright citizenship order, but "only to the extent that the injunctions are broader than necessary to provide complete relief."

That doesn't mean the birthright citizenship order will take effect. Shortly after the ruling, a New Hampshire court paused the executive order nationwide in a lawsuit that was brought as a class action, after the Supreme Court's decision left the door open to that option.

The Supreme Court also did not directly address whether states can still sue over the order. In the case that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled on in July, the government has argued that courts can just block the birthright citizenship order for residents of the states that sued, rather than issuing a nationwide injunction. But the states argue that would provide them with incomplete relief because people move from state to state.

In her ruling Thursday, Boardman certified a class of all children who have been born or will be born in the United States after Feb. 19, 2025, who would be affected by Trump's order.

She said the plaintiffs in the lawsuit before her were "extremely likely" to win their argument that the birthright order violates the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which includes a citizenship clause that says all people born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to U.S. jurisdiction, are citizens. They were also likely to suffer irreparable harm if the order went into effect, she wrote.

Joe Walsh contributed to this report.