A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
A federal judge in New Hampshire has blocked President Trump's executive order that attempted to end birthright citizenship. The judge stopped it from taking effect anywhere in the country by certifying a class action lawsuit brought by the ACLU. Now, that was a legal avenue left open after last month's Supreme Court limit on nationwide injunctions. Here's Kate Dario of New Hampshire Public Radio.
KATE DARIO, BYLINE: On the steps outside the federal courthouse in Concord, lead ACLU attorney Cody Wofsy cheered Judge Joseph Laplante's rapid decision.
CODY WOFSY: This is going to protect every single child around the country from this lawless, unconstitutional and cruel executive order.
DARIO: Judge Laplante halted enforcement of Trump's order, issued in January, which sought to deny citizenship to babies born to immigrants without legal status, and those with legal but temporary status. The suit follows June's Supreme Court decision that significantly narrowed the scope of nationwide injunctions against the executive order issued by other federal judges. That decision left babies born in New Hampshire and 27 other states at risk of being denied citizenship as soon as the end of this month. The ACLU and other advocacy groups filed a class action lawsuit hours after the Supreme Court decision on behalf of three non-citizen parents and their infants. Attorney Wofsy said people have been scared and uncertain on what to do since the Supreme Court ruling.
WOFSY: We've gotten an outpouring of concern and confusion and fear from people worrying about their families being torn apart because of the Supreme Court's opening the door to this unconstitutional order. Today, this court slammed that door shut and made clear this cannot be applied to anyone anywhere in the country.
DARIO: During the hourlong hearing, a Justice Department lawyer argued that the 14th Amendment was never intended to grant citizenship to children of undocumented people. Judge Laplante said he found that argument, quote, "unpersuasive." White House spokesman Harrison Fields accused Laplante, who was appointed by Republican President George W. Bush, of, quote, "abusing class action procedures." The decision likely put the birthright citizenship issue on an accelerated track back to the Supreme Court.
For NPR News, I'm Kate Dario in Concord, New Hampshire.
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