Sign up HERE for DC Insider - your free guide to what's rocking WashingtonSee more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy BREANNE DEPPISCH, US SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER Published: 21:54 BST, 11 August 2026 | Updated: 22:01 BST, 11 August 2026
Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union asked a federal judge to block President Donald Trump's new executive order restricting birthright citizenship after his stunning loss at the Supreme Court.Trump signed two new executive orders last week restricting citizenship protections for the children of foreign diplomats born on US soil, and limiting individuals seeking to enter the US for purposes of so-called 'birth tourism.' In June, the Supreme Court rejected Trump's first attempt to end birthright citizenship for infants born on US soil in a bombshell 7-2 decision. His new orders sidestep the high court's ruling, which rejected his effort to end birthright citizenship for children whose parents are living in the US illegally or as legal permanent residents. 'They're buying their way in, and we're not going to let it happen,' Trump said of the individuals his orders would target while speaking in the Oval Office last week. 'We're making adjustments because it's very unfair,' he added. But lawyers for the ACLU and other plaintiffs in the case vehemently disagree.In the new filing, lawyers for the ACLU and other migrant groups asked the judge to make it ‘unquestionably clear’ that Trump’s new directive cannot be enforced, either by issuing a new injunction or a 'clarifying injunction' that they said is needed to bar further action. 'Despite the Supreme Court’s clear direction,' they said in the filing, Trump 'continues to claim for himself the power to identify categories of children whose citizenship he intends to deny.' President Donald Trump and White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller speak in the Oval Office as he announces new actions on birthright citizenship Trump publicly criticized Supreme Court justices for blocking some of his most sweeping executive orders and actions to date Protesters advocaitng for birthright citizenship are seen outside the Supreme Court in April before oral arguments 'The court should underscore that the government may not strip away class members’ citizenship through any executive orders or other similarly flawed assertions of Executive power over birthright citizenship,' they added.Lawyers for the ACLU described the new action as an improper effort by Trump to sidestep the Supreme Court's ruling.‘We’ve seen this strategy from this administration before, and the courts have repeatedly made it clear that the 14th Amendment cannot be rewritten by executive fiat,’ Norm Eisen, a former White House ethics czar and co-founder of the Democracy Defenders Fund, told the Daily Mail in a statement.‘We are filing this motion to ensure that the protections currently shielding our clients remain intact - we will not let the administration use babies as pawns in a political stunt like this,' Eisen added. The new filing comes as Trump administration officials continue to view his executive orders as a key component of his administration's hard-line immigration agenda - a defining feature of his second White House term.Opponents contend efforts to curtail these protections are misguided and flagrantly unconstitutional.It is unclear what the Justice Department will do next, though plaintiffs representing the migrants have asked the judge to schedule an additional hearing. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington, DC, following a spate of Supreme Court rulings From left, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Elena Kagan, Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Justice Amy Coney Barrett at the State of the Union in February President Donald Trump watches as then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks to the media in Washington, DC Trump has not shied away from criticizing the Supreme Court for blocking his key policy priorities in his second White House term, and has previously accused his own conservative nominees on the court of being ‘disloyal.’
