(The Hill) — A federal judge in Maryland blocked President Donald Trump’s birthright citizenship restrictions nationwide late Thursday, the fourth such ruling following the Supreme Court’s decision clawing back universal injunctions.
U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman already signaled she would block the restrictions nationwide, but she did not have jurisdiction at the time because the case rested with an appeals court.
Last week, the appeals court sent the case back to Boardman so she could issue the ruling.
The new phase of litigation follows the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision along ideological lines curtailing judges’ ability to issue universal injunctions. The high court still left the door open for nationwide blocks when needed to provide plaintiffs “complete relief” or when judges certify a nationwide class action.
Boardman insisted she was not “resurrecting” a universal injunction, and Thursday’s ruling “comports with old and recent Supreme Court precedent.”
“Here, the Court finds that the only way to afford complete relief to the certified class is to enjoin enforcement of the Executive Order as to each member of the class,” the judge wrote. “That relief must include every child in the United States who is subject to the Executive Order.
She is an appointee of former President Joe Biden.
Signed on Trump’s first day in office, his executive order curbs birthright citizenship for children born on U.S. soil if they don’t have at least one parent with permanent legal status. Every court to directly confront its constitutionality has found it violates the 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause.
Boardman oversees a challenge brought by two immigration services organizations, CASA and the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, and eight women who are either pregnant or have recently given birth. The plaintiffs have argued that an injunction that applies only in some areas or to some migrants is unworkable.
The latest ruling marks the fourth time that a court has blocked Trump’s executive order nationwide following the Supreme Court’s decision.
An appeals court panel did so last month, as did two other federal district judges in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
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