WASHINGTON — A federal judge pumped the brakes on President Trump’s latest effort to rein in birthright citizenship through executive order, citing the Supreme Court’s ruling against his first attempt.
Maryland-based US District Judge Deborah Boardman issued a preliminary injunction Wednesday temporarily blocking Trump’s scaled-down executive orders last month to stop birth tourism.
“The 2026 Executive Order is almost certainly unconstitutional … for the simple reason that the Supreme Court in Barbara already decided that the children in the class are citizens at birth,” Boardman, a Biden appointee, wrote in the opinion — referring to the Supreme Court case, Trump v. Barbara, that struck down his first attempt.
Last month, Trump signed two executive orders, the first of which identified a list of children who were not eligible for automatic birthright citizenship and the second called on both the Secretary of Homeland Security and Secretary of State to stop birth tourism — the practice of traveling to the US to have a baby on American soil.
Those executive orders came in response to the Supreme Court shutting down Trump’s Jan. 20, 2025 directive to end birthright citizenship for the US-born children of birth tourists and illegal immigrants.
It appeared aimed at expanding preexisting exceptions for birthright citizenship, such as blocking the children of foreign diplomats or invaders from getting citizenship automatically.
Trump’s second order called for agencies to not recognize the citizenship of children born under specific conditions, including birth tourism.
Recently, the State Department moved to impose a proof of citizenship or immigration status for individuals seeking to apply for US passports on behalf of their children.
The Supreme Court’s decision concluded that the executive order violated the Fourteenth Amendment, which stipulates “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”
Trump’s August orders were seemingly aimed at the fact that some of the dissenting justices appeared particularly perturbed about the high court’s finding on birth tourism.
“We crafted the EO around, and in concurrence, and understanding what the Supreme Court said in their decision. And so we expected— we didn’t expect this judge to say we were right,” Attorney General Todd Blanche told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on Wednesday.
A nonprofit, CASA Inc, had sued to block Trump’s latest attempt to limit birthright citizenship.
“This is just another ruling from an activist judge appointed by Biden attempting to thwart President Trump’s commonsense agenda,” White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said in a statement to The Post.
“The birthright citizenship executive order is consistent with the holdings and analysis set forth by the Supreme Court.”
Another challenge against the executive orders is unfolding in New Hampshire.
