For the third time, a federal court has blocked Donald Trump’s attempt to strip birthright citizenship from children born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrants. The ruling came Friday from U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin, who said there’s no way to protect the states suing unless the order is blocked nationwide.
“There is no workable, narrower alternative,” Sorokin wrote in his 23-page opinion, citing the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on nationwide injunctions.
Trump’s executive order would deny citizenship to children born in the U.S. unless at least one parent has permanent legal status. Every court that has reviewed the policy so far has found it unconstitutional.
Judge Sorokin, appointed by President Obama, said the court had done a fresh review of the policy and stood by its original ruling.
“After careful consideration of the law and the facts, the Court answers that question in the negative,” Sorokin wrote, meaning the original nationwide block remains valid.
In June, the Supreme Court ruled 6–3 to limit federal judges from issuing broad nationwide blocks in most cases. But it left room for exceptions — like class-action suits or when states prove they need full protection.
That’s exactly what happened here. Sorokin said the states suing had shown the policy would hurt them across the board, and no smaller fix would be enough.
“The record does not support a finding that any narrower option would feasibly and adequately protect the plaintiffs from the injuries they have shown they are likely to suffer,” Sorokin wrote.
Other courts are siding with the states too.
Earlier this month, a judge in New Hampshire blocked the same executive order through a class-action lawsuit. Though that ruling was paused briefly to give the Trump administration time to appeal, it didn’t. The nationwide block is now in effect.
Still, the administration could appeal at any time, but so far, it hasn’t shown the same urgency here as in other legal fights.
New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin, who led the lawsuit, welcomed the ruling. He didn’t mince words.
“Trump’s order is flagrantly unconstitutional,” Platkin said. “American-born babies are American, just as they have been at every other time in our Nation’s history. The President cannot change that legal rule with the stroke of a pen.”
Three courts have now said the same: Trump’s order can’t stand — not in New Jersey, not in New Hampshire, and not anywhere else in the country.
