Maryland Federal Court Permits Class Action Against Birthright Citizenship Executive Order

BALTIMORE, MD — U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang ruled on Tuesday that a nationwide class-action lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's revised executive order restricting 14th Amendment birthright citizenship may move forward into formal discovery.

Constitutional Claims Under the 14th Amendment

The lawsuit, filed by a coalition of civil rights organizations, immigrant families, and municipal governments, challenges executive directives that instruct federal agencies, including the State Department and Social Security Administration, to deny passports and Social Security numbers to U.S.-born children whose parents are not lawful permanent residents or citizens.

In his ruling denying the Department of Justice's motion to dismiss, Judge Chuang noted that the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment establishes a clear constitutional rule: all persons born on U.S. soil and subject to its jurisdiction are citizens at birth, a standard affirmed by over a century of Supreme Court precedent since United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898).

Administrative Stakes and Legal Discovery

The court order clears the way for plaintiffs to depose federal officials and obtain internal administration memorandums regarding how agencies prepared to implement the revised citizenship guidelines.

Civil rights attorneys celebrated the decision as a critical safeguard against executive efforts to alter fundamental constitutional protections without constitutional amendment.

Schedule for Injunction Briefing

The court ordered both parties to submit briefing on a motion for a nationwide preliminary injunction by September 15, 2026.