A federal judge on Wednesday blocked Donald Trump’s attempt to restrict birthright citizenship in the United States, dealing a blow to his efforts to end a right enshrined in the Constitution for over a century.
The ruling indefinitely halts enforcement of one of Trump’s most controversial executive orders, which was set to take effect nationwide on February 19.
“The denial of the precious right to citizenship will cause irreparable harm,” District Judge Deborah Boardman stated during a hearing in Maryland.
She cited Supreme Court precedent protecting birthright citizenship, ruling that Trump’s order “conflicts with the plain language of the 14th Amendment,” according to The Washington Post.
“No court in the country has ever endorsed the president’s interpretation,” she added. “This court will not be the first.”
The injunction follows a 14-day stay issued in January by a federal judge in Washington state.
There, US District Judge John Coughenour condemned the order as “blatantly unconstitutional.” Trump, however, swiftly announced plans to appeal.
Birthright citizenship is guaranteed under the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, which states that anyone born on US soil is a citizen.
Trump’s order argued that individuals in the US illegally, or on a visa, were not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the country and should be excluded from automatic citizenship.
Opponents maintain that the 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868 during the post-Civil War era, has been settled law for over a century.
They cite an 1898 US Supreme Court ruling in the case of Wong Kim Ark, a Chinese-American man who was denied reentry to the US because he was not a citizen.
The court ruled that children born in the US, including those of immigrants, could not be denied citizenship.
