Saturday, October 24, 2026

Judge temporarily halts Trump’s order banning birthright citizenship in U.S.

18 other states have sued against Mr Trump’s order and their suits are under review in Massachusetts.

and • January 23, 2025
Donald Trump
Donald Trump signing document

Judge John C. Coughenour has temporarily restrained President Donald Trump from ending birthright citizenship to babies born to illegal immigrants or mothers on tourist visas and student visas.

Mr Coughenour, a federal court judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, on Thursday, said that Mr Trump’s executive order was “blatantly unconstitutional” and temporarily reversed it after multiple states —Washington, Illinois, Oregon and Arizona — filed lawsuits against the president’s order.

They contended that Mr Trump’s order not only contradicts the 14th Amendment but that it will leave no fewer than 150,000 babies born in the U.S. every year without state and benefits. This, they argued, will cause the states to lose funding from the federal government to finance multiple programs.

The attorneys for the four states told the judge that a constitutional amendment to alter the wording of the law to fit Mr Trump’s executive order would “flatly contradict the nation’s constitutional history and constitutional traditions,” relying on a 1995 testimony from former Assistant Attorney General Walter Dellinger.

18 other states have sued against Mr Trump’s order and their suits are under review in Massachusetts.

Mr Trump kicked off his presidency, signing a flurry of executive orders that not only halted automatic citizenship to all children born on American soil but also diminished the rights of persons with different sexual orientation. He stressed that the U.S. government will only recognise two genders, “male and female.”

He also ordered all federal government workers to return to offices fully, ending all remote work.

We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.

More from Peoples Gazette

Nigerian Bar Association

States

Independence: NBA urges Nigerians to expect better future

The NBA said that ordinary Nigerians should be deriving benefit from the subsidy removal rather than hardship.

farmers

Agriculture

FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology

The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Katsina State

Politics

Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku

“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

Jason Ardy (Credit: FACEBOOK)

World

Late Cambridge professor Jason Arday cleared of plagiarism after death

Mr Arday, 41, was found unresponsive at an apartment in London in August and later pronounced dead.

Tope Fasua and a screensot of his comment on a Facebook Post

NationWide

Tinubu’s aide Fasua, APC influencers circulate fake news on Obi supporting drug counterfeiters

Ms Oyinye on Facebook wrote, “Peter Obi says drug and food producers need re-orientation not death penalty.”

NSCDC Logo

NationWide

Debt recovery not your core mandate, NSCDC cautions officers

The commandant said that building a well-trained workforce would add value to public service.