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By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
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The legal fight over President Donald Trump's executive order restricting birthright citizenship could soon return to the U.S. Supreme Court.
A judge in New Hampshire on Thursday blocked Trump's order ending birthright citizenship for children born to those without legal status from taking effect anywhere in the U.S.
Judge Joseph LaPlante, who was appointed by Republican President George W. Bush, issued a preliminary injunction and certified a class-action lawsuit that includes all children who will be affected.
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Why It Matters
The judge's decision comes just weeks after the Supreme Court limited judges' authority to issue nationwide injunctions in Trump v. CASA without settling the underlying question of the constitutionality of Trump's order.
The court didn't rule out whether judges could accomplish much the same thing by a different legal means, a class action.
Birthright citizenship, enshrined in the Constitution's 14th Amendment, makes anyone born in the U.S. an American citizen, including children born to mothers in the country illegally.
What To Know
LaPlante wrote in his order that he had "no difficulty" in concluding an injunction was appropriate.
"Respondents' arguments about irreparable harm remain unconvincing to the court, which has no difficulty concluding that the rapid adoption by executive order, without legislation and the attending national debate, of a new government policy of highly questionable constitutionality that would deny citizenship to many thousands of individuals previously granted citizenship under an indisputably longstanding policy, constitutes irreparable harm, and that all class representatives could suffer irreparable harm absent an injunction," he wrote.
Stephen Yale-Loehr, a retired professor of immigration law at Cornell University, told Newsweek that the ruling did not address the merits of the birthright citizenship order and that it may not reach the High Court until next year.
Jonathan Adler, a professor at William & Mary Law School and constitutional law expert, said on the Bloomberg Law podcast that he believes the Trump administration will challenge the class certification.
"This could well end up back at the Supreme Court," he said. "I also suspect, though, that at this point, there are likely to be five justices that are ready to proceed to the merits of this question."
What People Are Saying
Stephen Yale-Loehr, a retired professor of immigration law, told Newsweek the ruling "was merely a preliminary finding that the case could go forward as a class action. It did not address the merits of birthright citizenship. Moreover, judge LaPlante stayed his order for seven days to give the government time to appeal."
He added: "We are still a long way from a decision on the merits.The case on the merits may not reach the Supreme Court until next spring. Based on the clear language in the Constitution allowing birthright citizenship, I believe the justices will strike down President Trump's effort to repeal birthright citizenship."
Jonathan Adler, a professor and constitutional law expert, also said: "I think unlike in a lot of these cases, where the Trump administration has had strong procedural arguments or kind of formalistic arguments about the exercise of jurisdiction as a way of pushing back against some of the district court orders, on the merit the Trump administration's birthright citizenship executive order will be very hard to defend."
Cody Wofsy, the deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrant's Rights Project who argued the case, said in a statement on Thursday: "This ruling is a huge victory and will help protect the citizenship of all children born in the United States, as the Constitution intended. We are fighting to ensure President Trump doesn't trample on the citizenship rights of one single child."
White House spokesman Harrison Fields said in a statement: "The Trump Administration will be fighting vigorously against the attempts of these rogue district court judges to impede the policies President Trump was elected to implement."
What Happens Next
LaPlante's order included a seven-day stay to allow for appeal.
The Supreme Court issued the final opinions of the 2024-25 term in late June. The 2025-26 term will begin in October, but orders on emergency applications can come at any time.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
Update 7/11/25, 9:12 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from Stephen Yale-Loehr.
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