A federal judge in Washington state on Thursday temporarily blocked, nationwide, President Donald Trump’s executive order to restrict birthright citizenship, the first legal roadblock in a flurry of high-profile initiatives in his first days back in the White House.
The ruling came after a hearing in a challenge from Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon seeking to invalidate Trump’s order, which argued that the 14th Amendment allowed him to define as noncitizens a child who is born in America to undocumented and temporary lawful immigrants.
Judge John C. Coughenour of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, a Ronald Reagan appointee, issued a temporary restraining order after finding the executive order likely violates the 14th Amendment and federal immigration law that guarantees birthright citizenship.
