A federal judge again blocked President Trump from ending birthright citizenship on Thursday, renewing a legal feud that could soon head back to the Supreme Court.
Just days after the conservative-run top court barred most nationwide injunctions, Judge Joseph LaPlante nevertheless said he planned to order officials to avoid taking any steps to change the 150-year precedent that anyone born on U.S. soil is a citizen.
The judge said he’ll certify a class action lawsuit on behalf of all children born on U.S. soil, taking advantage of a key exception the justices included in their recent landmark ruling.
“This is going to protect every single child around the country from this lawless, unconstitutional and cruel executive order,” said Cody Wofsy, an attorney for the plaintiffs who asked for the order.
The lawsuit was filed in New Hampshire on behalf of a pregnant woman, two parents and their infants. It’s among several cases challenging Trump’s January order denying citizenship to people whose parents are not U.S. citizens.
LaPlante announced his decision from the bench after an hourlong hearing and said he will issue a written order later. He agreed to stay the order for a week to allow the Trump administration to appeal, as expected.
An appeal would likely go first to a circuit court and then to the Supreme Court, which could decide whether LaPlante’s order complies with their decision last month that limited judges’ authority to issue nationwide injunctions.
That ruling from the justices did not address the merits of Trump’s bid to end birthright citizenship, which has been the law of the land for more than a century and a half.
It also said judges retain the power to act to protect defined classes of plaintiffs, a loophole that LaPlante pointed to.
Advocates for immigrants say the Constitution’s 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil, citing the phrase: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”
Trump has derided birthright citizenship as a “scam” and claims the 14th Amendment was intended only to apply to American-born enslaved people.
The Trump administration says the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” means the U.S. can deny citizenship to babies born to women in the country illegally, a claim that the courts have previously ruled against.
Originally Published: July 10, 2025 at 12:53 PM EDT
