Now Reading: Trump birthright citizenship curb faces new legal challenge
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Trump birthright citizenship curb faces new legal challenge
The American Civil Liberties Union and other immigration advocacy groups have filed a legal challenge against President Donald Trump's latest executive order curbing birthright citizenship. The challenge was filed before a New…
The Story in Brief
The American Civil Liberties Union and other immigration advocacy groups have filed a legal challenge against President Donald Trump's latest executive order curbing birthright citizenship. The challenge was filed before a New Hampshire federal judge who had previously approved the case as a class action. Lawyers who defeated Trump's original restrictions argue that the new order, signed on August 6, violates an existing injunction that bars the administration from denying citizenship to babies born in the US to mothers with temporary visas or undocumented migrants.
The existing court order stems from Trump's earlier attempt to restrict automatic citizenship, which the Supreme Court knocked down months ago. The lawyers wrote that if the president issues 100 orders seeking exceptions to the Citizenship Clause, all 100 would be equally illegal. They have asked the court to make clear that defendants may not take away class members' birthright under the auspices of these or any other executive actions. The case now awaits a ruling from the New Hampshire judge.
The Indian Opinion
Both sides are fighting over the same Citizenship Clause, but the real question is whether a president can rewrite the Constitution by executive order. The earlier Supreme Court ruling did not settle this: it only blocked one version of the policy. Now Trump has tried again with a slightly different order. The test will be whether the New Hampshire judge holds that the change is effectively the same violation. If the court says yes, the administration's entire strategy of serial executive orders collapses. If no, the clause's meaning shifts without a constitutional amendment. Which matters more: the policy outcome or the process? Indian readers watching US immigration should note that one judge's answer will decide whether a president can keep chipping away at citizenship without Congress.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
