A U.S. federal judge on Thursday once again barred the Trump administration from enforcing an executive order limiting birthright citizenship nationwide, reported Xinhua.
U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante in Concord, New Hampshire made the ruling after immigrant rights advocates implored him to grant class action status to a lawsuit they filed seeking to represent any babies whose citizenship status would be threatened by the implementation of President Donald Trump's directive.
The ruling from Laplante "is significant because the Supreme Court last month curbed the power of lower court judges to issue nationwide injunctions, while keeping intact the ability of plaintiffs to seek a widespread block of the order through class action lawsuits, which is what happened on Thursday in New Hampshire," said ABC.
Ruling from the bench, Laplante granted a request from immigration rights attorneys to certify a nationwide class that will comprise only those deprived of citizenship, and issued a preliminary injunction indefinitely blocking Trump's order from being enforced against born and unborn babies who would be impacted.
"The preliminary injunction is just not a close call to the court," Laplante said during a hearing. "The deprivation of U.S. citizenship and an abrupt change of policy that was longstanding … that's irreparable harm."
U.S. citizenship "is the greatest privilege that exists in the world," the judge added.
Several other judges similarly ruled that Trump's order was unconstitutional, but their injunctions prompted the administration to mount the series of appeals that eventually landed before the Supreme Court.
- U.S. federal judge
- Blocks
- Trump
- Order
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
