A US federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction blocking President Donald Trump's latest executive order restricting birthright citizenship, prompting the White House to accuse her of being an "activist judge" seeking to undermine his agenda. The ruling by Judge Deborah Boardman is the first to halt the revised order since the Supreme Court affirmed birthright citizenship in June, reigniting a contentious legal fight over the scope of the 14th Amendment.

Boardman, who was appointed by President Biden, ruled that Trump's 6 August order was "almost certainly unconstitutional", arguing the Supreme Court had already settled the matter in its Barbara v Trump decision. The order sought to deny citizenship to children of parents deemed "alien enemies", including alleged members of designated terrorist organisations, as well as children born via paid surrogacy arrangements involving foreign parents. Boardman cited concerns raised by plaintiffs, including two women who feared their children could be wrongly linked to cartels or gangs based on tenuous evidence such as tattoos or family ties. The White House defended the order as consistent with the Supreme Court's ruling, while a former Justice Department official suggested Boardman's reasoning was speculative and vulnerable to legal challenge.