US federal judge blocks Trump’s birthright citizenship ban

ISTANBUL

A federal judge issued a nationwide preliminary injunction late Wednesday that halts President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at terminating birthright citizenship.

Maryland US District Judge Deborah Boardman issued the ruling against Trump’s executive order, which aims to remove birthright citizenship rights for children born in the United States to undocumented and temporary immigrants.

Boardman ruled that Trump’s executive order would violate the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution and contradicts over a century of binding Supreme Court precedents, as well as the nation’s 250-year history of birthright citizenship.

​​​​​​​Unlike a previous temporary restraining order, issued on Jan. 23 by Judge John Coughenour of the US District Court for the Western District of Washington, which was set to expire this week, Boardman’s preliminary injunction will remain in effect until the lawsuit is resolved or a higher court overturns the ruling.

Some observers expect the matter to eventually reach the US Supreme Court, where Trump and other Republican presidents have helped appoint a conservative majority.