Appeals court maintains injunction against Trump birthright order

Keeping the injunction in place served the public interest, court says

US President Donald Trump signs a document in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, US Feb  4, 2025. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo

US President Donald Trump's effort to curtail automatic birthright citizenship nationwide as part of his hardline immigration crackdown suffered another legal setback on Friday when a second federal appeals court declined to lift one of the court orders blocking the Republican's executive order.

The Richmond, Virginia-based 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Trump administration's request for an order putting on hold a nationwide injunction issued by a federal judge in Maryland who concluded the order was unconstitutional.

"For well over a century, the federal government has recognised the birthright citizenship of children born in this country to undocumented or non-permanent immigrants," the appeals court said.

"The government has not shown that it will be harmed in any meaningful way if it continues to comply, for the pendency of its appeal, with that settled interpretation of the law," it added.

The court also said the public interest was served by leaving the injunction in place, saying it would be "hard to overstate the confusion and upheaval" that would result from implementing Trump's order.

It was the second time an appellate court had taken up Trump's executive order on birthright citizenship, whose fate may ultimately be decided by the US Supreme Court.

Another appeals court last week declined to lift a similar injunction issued by a judge in Seattle. Other judges in Massachusetts and New Hampshire have likewise enjoined the order, finding it violates the US Constitution.