Judge Blocks Trump's Second Birthright Citizenship Order

A federal judge in Maryland blocked Trump's narrower August executive order limiting birthright citizenship, calling it almost certainly unconstitutional after a Supreme Court defeat.

U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman in Maryland issued a preliminary injunction Wednesday blocking enforcement of President Trump's August 6 executive order that sought to deny citizenship to certain U.S.-born children. In a 35-page ruling, Boardman wrote that the order 'is almost certainly unconstitutional as applied to the certified class' because the Supreme Court in its June ruling in Barbara v. Trump 'already decided that the children in the class are citizens at birth.' 'No presidential executive order can undo what the Supreme Court has done,' she wrote.

This is the second time in three months that the administration's bid to narrow birthright citizenship has been struck down. Trump's Day 1 order of January 2025, which sought to end automatic citizenship for children of noncitizen parents, was rejected by the Supreme Court 6-3 in its June decision in Barbara v. Trump. Trump responded on August 6 with a narrower order targeting 'birth tourism,' children of parents labeled 'alien enemies,' and children of parents working for foreign governments. Boardman called the effort an attempt 'to rewrite the carve-outs to birthright citizenship with the stroke of a pen,' characterizing the administration's reasoning as a 'distorted interpretation' of the high court's opinion.

Boardman's opinion leaned on the Supreme Court's June holding that all children born on U.S. soil are 'subject to the jurisdiction' of the United States and qualify as citizens. She wrote that 'The Supreme Court has spoken: Children in the certified class are citizens at birth' and that 'Barbara is the law of the land. The President must follow it.' The order bars agencies including the State Department, Homeland Security, and the Social Security Administration from denying or failing to recognize the citizenship of covered children. The judge noted the August order was broad enough that anyone who bought a plane ticket could be described as engaging in a 'commercial transaction' to access birthright citizenship, and pointed to a pattern in which the administration has accused Venezuelan nationals of Tren de Aragua affiliation in deportation proceedings, often without evidence.

The administration signaled it will keep fighting. White House spokesperson Lauren Bis called Boardman 'an activist judge appointed by Biden attempting to thwart President Trump's commonsense agenda,' asserting the order is consistent with the Supreme Court's analysis. According to NBC News, Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Fox News Wednesday evening that the ruling 'is not something that is a surprise to us,' adding that the administration 'crafted the EO around' the Supreme Court's decision, will 'continue to fight,' and 'if we have to go back to the Supreme Court, we will.' Immigrant rights advocates celebrated; Shana Khader, legal director at We Are CASA, said the administration 'has lost before this court, lost before the Supreme Court, and lost again today.'

The injunction protects a class of children born after February 19, 2025, including those born in the future, from having their citizenship denied or undocumented by federal agencies. Birthright citizenship, enshrined in the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and long upheld in cases such as U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark, confers automatic citizenship on nearly anyone born on U.S. soil, with narrow exceptions such as children of diplomats or invading armies. The Trump administration has argued that children of temporary or undocumented immigrants do not qualify under the 'jurisdiction' language. Boardman's ruling is a significant setback for that effort, and also constrains parallel administrative moves: the State Department has proposed requiring parents to provide proof of their own citizenship or immigration status when applying for passports for their children.

Boardman's injunction is preliminary, and she wrote it was too soon to find the order facially unconstitutional — only that it was almost certainly unconstitutional as applied to the certified class. Expect the administration to seek further review, as the attorney general has said it will return to the Supreme Court if necessary. The broader legal landscape remains active: separate pending disputes at the Supreme Court involve a Michigan ballot proposal requiring proof of citizenship to vote, while litigation continues over Trump-directed Postal Service changes to mail ballot handling, with U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani weighing Thursday whether to extend her temporary bar through September 10 as states begin shipping midterm mail ballots. For now, though, birthright citizenship stands, and Boardman's message was blunt: the president must follow the Supreme Court's ruling.