Court Halts Trump's Birthright Citizenship Order Amid Ongoing Legal Battles

A New Hampshire judge has temporarily blocked President Trump's executive order to restrict birthright citizenship, following a class-action lawsuit brought by the ACLU. The ruling comes amidst legal challenges that question the constitutionality of the president's policies, while the White House vows to fight back against this decision.

A US judge has put a halt to President Donald Trump's efforts to modify birthright citizenship through an executive order, amidst an evolving legal landscape. In a decisive move, a judge in New Hampshire has granted a temporary injunction against the president's proposal, allowing a class-action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to proceed.

The ACLU represents immigrant parents and their newborns, arguing that the executive order unjustly threatens their right to citizenship. This ruling arrives shortly after a Supreme Court decision that narrowed the scope of issuing universal injunctions by federal courts, yet it maintains certain channels for challenging such actions.

The judge's ruling prompted immediate backlash from the Trump administration, with spokesman Harrison Fields stating, “Today's decision is an obvious and unlawful attempt to circumvent the Supreme Court's clear order against universal relief." He further expressed that the administration plans to vigorously contest what they perceive as a misuse of legal procedures by “rogue district court judges.”

Trump's proposed measures are part of a longstanding effort to reduce immigration, targeting those born in the US to undocumented immigrants. While the Constitution guarantees citizenship for those born on US soil, Trump has aimed to revoke that status for specific groups, framing it as part of a broader immigration policy reform.

The ACLU’s class-action suit, which cites the potential harm to affected infants, successfully prompts the judge to allow legal arguments focused on the executive order's alleged unconstitutionality to move forward. The ruling notably pauses a fundamental aspect of Trump's immigration strategy, with the judge providing a week for the government to initiate an appeal.

Notably, the executive order on citizenship was one of Trump's early actions upon taking office. Multiple lower courts have previously issued temporary nationwide injunctions as they analyzed various legal arguments against the order. The Supreme Court, in a previous ruling, emphasized the need to limit judicial authority in blocking executive mandates but did not explicitly tackle the constitutional questions surrounding Trump's birthright citizenship decree. Following that ruling, the order was set to take effect on July 27.