by A court battle that has been going on since the start of President Trump’s second term was rekindled on Thursday when a federal judge prevented the Trump administration from carrying out a controversial executive order that terminated birthright citizenship.
Judge Joseph N. Laplante of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire issued a decision from the bench, permitting the lawsuit to proceed as a class action and extending his order to children born to undocumented parents across the country. Class action lawsuits are essentially the only ones that can stop the president’s policies across large swaths of the nation, following a recent Supreme Court ruling restricting nationwide injunctions.
The long-standing practice that individuals born in the United States are automatically citizens, regardless of their parents’ immigration status, has been challenged by the Trump administration. The order from Judge Laplante guarantees a fresh round of court cases and appeals.
Later in the day, the judge, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, promised to give a formal order. In order to give time for an appeal, he also postponed his ruling for seven days.
Just hours after the Supreme Court’s decision last month, the A.C.L.U. filed the complaint, which tested what seemed to be the only effective and practical method left for district court judges to halt the implementation of programs they deemed illegal.
The Supreme Court’s ruling on birthright citizenship cleared the path for most states to start implementing Mr. Trump’s executive order, but it did not resolve the central question of whether it was lawful. The majority of the court, however, stated that the executive order could not be implemented for 30 days in order to give time for cases to be filed.
According to the A.C.L.U. lawsuit, all children born in the US after February 20 and their parents were considered to be a class. It issued a warning that those born to parents who were in the country illegally ran the prospect of becoming functionally stateless under the terms of Mr. Trump’s order.
According to the lawsuit, birthright citizenship offers families all around America the assurance that their children will be able to realize their full potential as citizens. That means that if their citizenship were revoked because of their parents’ status, children born here would not be able to pursue their dreams of becoming physicians, lawyers, teachers, entrepreneurs, or even president.
