Federal judge declines to grant temporary restraining order on Trump's latest birthright citizenship directive
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U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman refused a preliminary injunction against President Trump's second executive order limiting birthright citizenship, directing plaintiffs to amend their complaint before a new hearing.
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Friday denied a request for a temporary restraining order that would have blocked President Donald Trump’s second executive order aimed at restricting birthright citizenship. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman, a Biden appointee, came after the plaintiffs – a coalition of immigrant families and advocacy groups – sought immediate relief.
Boardman said the order was “unprecedented” and instructed the plaintiffs to amend their lawsuit to address the new directive directly. She indicated that a briefing would be scheduled once a revised complaint is filed, at which point the request for an injunction would be reconsidered.
The August 6 order narrows the scope of the earlier, Supreme Court-struck 2025 directive. It seeks to deny citizenship to children born to non-citizen parents classified as “alien enemies” or “terrorists,” as well as to those whose parents allegedly engage in commercial transactions to obtain birthright citizenship, and to children of parents from U.S. territories such as American Samoa.
Birthright citizenship is guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment, which the Supreme Court has upheld for more than a century. Critics argue that the administration’s attempts to curtail the practice could render children stateless, while the White House frames the measure as a safeguard against foreign actors exploiting U.S. generosity.
The case will proceed after the plaintiffs submit a revised petition for a temporary restraining order.