US judge blocks Trump’s latest effort to limit birthright citizenship

What the report says

A federal judge in Maryland has once again stopped President Donald Trump’s effort to restrict birthright citizenship, issuing a preliminary injunction against a new executive order signed on August 6. The ruling, reported by Al Jazeera and Reuters, blocks the administration from enforcing the policy while the case continues.

District Judge Deborah Boardman said the new order was likely unconstitutional for the same reason Trump’s earlier attempt failed. She pointed to the Supreme Court’s June decision in Barbara v Trump, in which the justices ruled 6-3 that birthright citizenship is protected under the Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment. The latest order had sought to deny citizenship to some children of foreign nationals, including those tied to what the administration described as “birth tourism” or certain other categories.

The case was brought by immigrant rights groups and families, including the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project. They had also won an earlier injunction against Trump’s first birthright-citizenship order. Boardman had already signaled concern about the renewed effort, and in Wednesday’s ruling she said the Supreme Court had already determined that children in the certified class are citizens at birth.

The dispute is part of a broader fight over immigration policy and the scope of presidential power. Birthright citizenship has long been understood to grant automatic citizenship to most people born in the United States, with limited exceptions such as children of diplomats.