Trump Asks Fourth Circuit to Taper Pause on Birthright Order (1)

President Donald Trump asked the Fourth Circuit Wednesday to narrow the scope of a nationwide pause to his executive order limiting automatic birthright citizenship as litigation makes its way through the appeals process.

The brief before the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit argued the lower court’s injunction shouldn’t sweep beyond the plaintiffs in its suit. Judge Deborah L. Boardman, of the US District Court for the District of Maryland, denied a nationwide stay pending appeal Tuesday.

• The order denies automatic citizenship to US-born children of immigrants who entered the country illegally or have temporary legal status
• Boardman said that the reasons she granted the nationwide preliminary injunction remained valid, citing the 680,000 members of the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project residing throughout the country
• Appeals are also before the First and Ninth Circuits, after judges under their jurisdiction also found it appropriate to apply preliminary injunctions

Georgetown University Law Center joined in-house counsel for Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project to represent the plaintiffs.

The case is Casa Inc. v. Trump, D. Md., No. 8:25-cv-00201, 2/18/25 and Casa Inc. v. Trump, 4th Cir., No. 25-1153, motion for stay pending appeal 2/19/25.