A third federal judge on Monday blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship for the children of people in the U.S. illegally.
The ruling from U.S. District Judge Joseph N. Laplante in New Hampshire comes after two similar rulings by judges in Seattle and Maryland last week.
A lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union contends that Trump’s order violates the Constitution and “attempts to upend one of the most fundamental American constitutional values.”
Trump’s administration has asserted that children of noncitizens are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the U.S. and therefore are not entitled to citizenship.
The administration is appealing the Seattle judge’s block on Trump’s executive order.
At the heart of the lawsuits in the three cases is the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1868 after the Civil War and the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision, which held that Scott, an enslaved man, wasn’t a citizen despite having lived in a state where slavery was outlawed.
