Maryland Federal Judge Blocks Enforcement of New Executive Order Narrowing Birthright Citizenship

For more than a century and a half, the Fourteenth Amendment's promise that anyone born on U.S. soil is a citizen at birth has been treated as one of the more settled features of American law. That settled understanding has been tested repeatedly since January 2025, when the administration issued its first executive order attempting to narrow birthright citizenship for children of parents who are in the country illegally or on a temporary basis. That original order was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2026, which reaffirmed that the Fourteenth Amendment extends citizenship to children born in the United States regardless of their parents' immigration status. The fight, however, did not end there.

On August 6, 2026, the administration issued a new executive order, titled "Continuing to Protect the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship," that took a narrower approach than its predecessor. Rather than targeting children of undocumented or temporarily present parents broadly, the new order sought to deny automatic citizenship to a more specific set of U.S.-born children: those connected to so-called "birth tourism" arrangements, children born through certain surrogacy arrangements, and children born to parents employed by foreign governments. Advocacy organizations, including CASA, Inc., quickly went back to court, arguing the new order was simply a different route to the same unconstitutional destination the Supreme Court had already closed off.

On September 2, 2026, U.S. District Judge Deborah L. Boardman, sitting in the District of Maryland, agreed, at least for now. In CASA, Inc., et al. v. Trump, et al., Judge Boardman issued a preliminary injunction finding the new order "almost certainly unconstitutional as applied to the certified class" of plaintiffs before her. The injunction bars the Department of State, the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Social Security Administration from enforcing the challenged provisions of the August 2026 order against members of that certified class while the underlying lawsuit continues.

It is worth being precise about what the ruling does not do. This is a preliminary injunction, not a final judgment, and it protects the specific class of plaintiffs represented in this litigation rather than announcing a permanent rule for the country as a whole. The administration is expected to appeal, and given the pattern of litigation since January 2025, further proceedings, including a possible return trip to the Supreme Court, are a realistic possibility. Families should not treat this ruling as the final word on how the government will treat citizenship claims connected to birth tourism, surrogacy, or foreign government employment going forward, even as it currently keeps the new order from being enforced against the families covered by the case.

The practical stakes reach well beyond the named plaintiffs. Because the new order's categories touch international travel, cross-border surrogacy arrangements, and diplomatic or consular staffing, families potentially affected are not confined to any single state or region. A pregnant traveler weighing whether to give birth while visiting the United States, a couple pursuing a surrogacy arrangement involving a U.S.-based surrogate, and a foreign government employee posted to a U.S. assignment are all examples of situations where a child's citizenship status could, at least in theory, become entangled in this ongoing litigation. Hospitals, vital records offices, and passport-issuing authorities are left navigating the same uncertainty as the families themselves while the courts sort out where the new order can and cannot be enforced.

This case is also a reminder of how quickly the legal landscape around birthright citizenship has shifted over the past two years, and how much of it could still change before any of it is fully settled. A family that believes a child's citizenship status could be affected by an executive order, a foreign posting, a surrogacy arrangement, or a birth abroad, or who has questions about how a pending case like this one might apply to their own circumstances, should have that situation evaluated individually rather than assuming a particular outcome.

Baltazard Law Office represents immigration clients nationwide, including families navigating cross-border circumstances, working directly with each client rather than through case managers, and in English, Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French. Anyone with a question about how developments in birthright citizenship litigation, or any other immigration matter, might affect their family is welcome to contact the firm to discuss their situation.

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Sources

1. Maryland Court Blocks Enforcement of New Birthright Citizenship Executive Order for Certified Class — Envoy Global, Inc. (September 2026)
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3. A Maryland Court Blocks Trump's Latest End-Run Around Birthright Citizenship — The Insightful Immigration Blog, Cyrus D. Mehta & Partners PLLC (September 5, 2026
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5. Trump Birthright Citizenship Executive Order Blocked — Newsweek

By Baltazard Law Office