A third federal judge, U.S. District Judge Joseph N. Laplante in New Hampshire, has issued a ruling blocking President Donald Trump's executive order that sought to end birthright citizenship for children of individuals who are in the U.S. illegally. This decision follows similar rulings by judges in Seattle and Maryland last week.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit arguing that Trump's order violates the Constitution and undermines a fundamental American constitutional value. The Trump administration contends that children of noncitizens are not under the jurisdiction of the United States and therefore not entitled to citizenship.
The administration is currently appealing the block on Trump's executive order issued by the Seattle judge. The crux of the legal debate in these cases revolves around the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1868 after the Civil War and the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision.
In the landmark 1898 case of United States v. Wong Kim Ark, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the only exceptions to automatic birthright citizenship for children born on U.S. soil were children of diplomats, enemies during hostile occupation, those born on foreign ships, and offspring of members of sovereign Native American tribes.
Birthright citizenship, also known as jus soli or 'right of the soil,' is a principle applied in about 30 countries worldwide. The United States is among these countries, with most of them located in the Americas, including Canada and Mexico.
