A second federal judge has issued an order blocking Donald Trump’s administration from implementing his plan to curtail US birthright citizenship, saying no court in the United States has ever endorsed the Republican president’s interpretation of the Constitution.
Advertisement
During a hearing on Wednesday in Greenbelt, Maryland, US District Judge Deborah Boardman sided with two immigrant rights groups and five pregnant women who argued that their children were at risk of being denied US citizenship based on the immigration status of their parents in violation of the Constitution.
Boardman, an appointee of Trump’s Democratic predecessor Joe Biden, issued a nationwide preliminary injunction blocking Trump’s order from going into effect as planned on February 19 while the matter is litigated.
“Today, virtually every baby born on US soil is a US citizen upon birth,” Boardman said. “That is the law and tradition of our country. That law and tradition are and will remain the status quo pending the resolution of this case.”
A US Justice Department lawyer asked Boardman for 60 days to respond to the injunction, but did not say whether the Trump administration would appeal. Boardman’s order provides longer-term relief to opponents of Trump’s policy than an earlier, 14-day pause imposed on January 23 by a Seattle-based federal judge.
Advertisement
That judge, John Coughenour, called Trump’s order “blatantly unconstitutional”. Coughenour is set on Thursday to consider whether to likewise issue a preliminary injunction that would remain in effect pending the resolution of the litigation.