Federal Judge Halts Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Order in Landmark Class-Action Case

A federal judge has temporarily blocked U.S. President Donald Trump’s controversial executive order seeking to restrict birthright citizenship, reviving a high-stakes legal battle over the 14th Amendment.

The ruling issued Thursday by Judge Joseph Laplante of the U.S. District Court in New Hampshire, grants class-action status to all children at risk of being denied U.S. citizenship under the policy.

The judge imposed a preliminary injunction—effectively pausing enforcement of the order—while legal proceedings unfold.

“This is a major victory for constitutional protections,” said Cody Wofsy, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) who argued the case. “It ensures that children born on U.S. soil remain protected under the 14th Amendment, as the framers intended.”

The court’s action comes just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court, in a landmark late-June decision, curtailed the power of individual judges to issue nationwide injunctions against federal policies.

However, the Court left open a legal path for blocking such orders through class-action lawsuits—a strategy Trump’s opponents quickly pursued.

The Trump administration’s order, announced earlier this year, aimed to deny automatic citizenship to children born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrants or temporary visa holders, marking a dramatic reinterpretation of the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment.

Trump’s legal team has argued that the post–Civil War amendment was designed to protect formerly enslaved individuals, not to extend citizenship to the U.S.-born children of non-citizens or migrants. That interpretation was rejected by the Supreme Court in 1898, which upheld birthright citizenship for nearly all children born on U.S. soil.

Though the current high court, now with a 6–3 conservative majority, declined to weigh in directly on the constitutionality of Trump’s executive order, it allowed the order to stand temporarily—delaying its implementation until late July to permit new legal challenges.

In granting the injunction, Judge Laplante ordered a seven-day delay to allow the Biden administration, which has not formally rescinded the Trump-era policy, to file an appeal.

Legal scholars note the case could set a powerful precedent—especially as debates over immigration, citizenship rights, and executive power continue to dominate the national political landscape.