A US federal court today "paused" the implementation of US President Donald Trump's order for the second time, which revokes the citizenship of anyone born in the US if their parents were in the US illegally at the time of their birth.
Judge Deborah Boardman said that no court in the country has upheld the Trump administration's interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment.
"Citizenship is a most precious right, expressly granted by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution," said Boardman.
Boardman said citizenship is "a national concern that requires a unified policy," adding that "only a federal ban will provide complete relief to plaintiffs."
After reading her decision, the judge asked the lawyer representing Trump's proposal if he would appeal her decision, to which he responded that he "does not have the authority to take a position on that issue immediately."
Trump's order had already been temporarily blocked at the federal level due to a separate lawsuit filed by four states, where a judge called the order "clearly unconstitutional."
Boardman, nominated by former President Joe Biden, agreed to the preliminary injunction after a hearing in federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland.
At the heart of the lawsuit is the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, ratified in 1868 following the Civil War and the Supreme Court's decision that found African-American Dred Scott to be a slave and not a citizen.
The Trump administration claims that children of foreign nationals are not "under the jurisdiction" of the United States and therefore are not entitled to citizenship.
"The Constitution does not contain a windfall clause that grants U.S. citizenship to, among other things: the children of those who have circumvented or outright defied federal immigration laws," the government argued in its response.
The Fourteenth Amendment was added after the Civil War to ensure citizenship for former slaves and free African Americans.
It states: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."
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