Judge blocks Trump’s birthright citizenship order

This latest ruling adds to a series of legal setbacks that have prevented the order from being enforced.

US District Judge Leo Sorokin, based in Boston, ruled that a coalition of 19 states, the District of Columbia, and two nonprofit organizations are likely to prevail in their legal challenges. The plaintiffs argue that the executive order, issued on Trump’s first day in office, violates the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment.

"The Constitution confers birthright citizenship broadly, including to persons within the categories described in the EO," Sorokin wrote in his 31-page decision.

This ruling follows similar decisions made in Maryland, Washington, and New Hampshire.

"President Trump may believe that he is above the law, but today's preliminary injunction sends a clear message: He is not a king, and he cannot rewrite the Constitution with the stroke of a pen," said Matthew Platkin, the attorney general of New Jersey.

Birthright citizenship in US

On Jan. 20, the day of his inauguration, Trump signed an executive order to revoke the policy that granted automatic citizenship to children born in the country.

Eighteen Democratic state attorneys general subsequently filed a lawsuit to challenge the order.

On Jan. 23, a district judge in Seattle temporarily blocked the order, declaring it “blatantly unconstitutional.”

On Feb. 6, a judge in Maryland issued a nationwide injunction against the order.

Each year, nearly 150,000 children in the US acquire citizenship by being born within the country’s borders.