A federal appeals judge blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship for children born in the U.S. to parents who are in the country illegally or temporarily.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin upheld a nationwide injunction he had issued earlier this year that prevents the Trump administration from enforcing this policy. The injunction had been granted in favor of more than a dozen states opposing the order.
Sorokin’s ruling was an exception to a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that limited the power of lower courts to issue nationwide injunctions. This case is expected to eventually return to the Supreme Court for a final resolution.
In his ruling, Sorokin acknowledged that President Donald Trump and his administration have the right to argue their interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment. However, for the purposes of the current lawsuit, he found the executive order unconstitutional.
The Trump administration maintains that children born in the U.S. to parents who are in the country illegally or temporarily are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States. Therefore, they argue, such children are not entitled to citizenship under the Constitution.
Trump signed the birthright citizenship executive order on his