A US federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump's newest executive order curbing birthright citizenship, dealing a fresh legal setback to the administration weeks after the Supreme Court struck down his original attempt.
US District Judge Deborah Boardman, sitting in Greenbelt, Maryland, issued a preliminary injunction against the order at the request of immigrant rights groups.
Boardman, a Biden appointee, had earlier secured a ruling blocking enforcement of Trump's original 2025 directive on the issue. At a hearing last week, she had stopped short of immediately halting the new order but voiced doubts about it, calling it "unprecedented," and allowed plaintiffs to amend their lawsuit, Reuters reported.
Background: Supreme Court's June Ruling
The Supreme Court had on June 30 struck down Trump's first attempt to deny automatic citizenship to children born in the US to parents who were neither citizens nor green card holders, ruling it breached the 14th Amendment's citizenship clause, which grants citizenship to those born in the US who are "subject to the jurisdiction thereof."
The New Order's Targets
Trump signed a revised order on August 6, this time aimed primarily at curbing "birth tourism," where women travel to the US specifically to give birth so their children gain citizenship.
ALSO READ: 'It Was A Heavy Attack': Trump Says US Prepared For More Strikes On Iran, Regime Getting Weaker
The order also sought to deny citizenship to children if a parent worked for a foreign government in the US, obtained citizenship through fraud or a commercial transaction, or was classified as an "alien enemy."
Legal Challenge And Government's Defence
The case was brought by immigrant rights groups CASA and the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, representing babies who lawyers argued would be wrongly denied citizenship.
Justice Department lawyers opposed the injunction, arguing the new order was narrower than the one previously struck down and that the challenge was premature, since federal agencies had yet to issue implementation guidance, expected by September 5. The administration maintained any legal fight should wait until then.
The case marks the latest round in a prolonged legal battle over one of Trump's signature immigration policies.
ALSO READ: Trump's New Birthright Citizenship Curbs Survive Initial Legal Challenge
Essential Business Intelligence, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice, Daily Fuel, Gold and Silver Prices and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.