These States Have Banned Birthright Citizenship Under Trump

President Donald Trump celebrated a major legal win on Friday after the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to restrict the use of universal injunctions by lower courts paving the way for his controversial birthright citizenship policy to partially take effect. However, the decision does not grant nationwide clearance for the policy, as court rulings in more than 20 states still block its implementation.

The policy, announced in January, limits automatic U.S. citizenship to children born to American citizens and legal permanent residents excluding those born to undocumented immigrants or individuals on temporary visas. While the Supreme Court did not rule directly on the constitutionality of Trump’s policy, it sided with the administration’s argument that lower courts had overstepped by issuing broad injunctions affecting states beyond their jurisdiction.

“This is a crucial step toward restoring proper judicial boundaries,” said John Eastman of the Claremont Institute, which supported the administration’s legal strategy. “Still, the door remains open for lower courts to try similar tactics through nationwide class actions. The concurring justices warned against this, but it remains to be seen if lower courts will respect that caution.”

Although the ruling reins in lower court authority, it creates a patchwork legal landscape where Trump’s policy will be enforceable in some states and blocked in others. The new legal framework takes effect in roughly 30 days, setting the stage for renewed legal battles and possible class action lawsuits challenging the policy’s enforcement.

The decision stemmed from three key cases in Massachusetts, Maryland, and Washington, where judges had previously issued nationwide injunctions halting Trump’s birthright citizenship changes. The Supreme Court ruled that those injunctions should only apply within the states involved in each respective case or to states that had joined those lawsuits.

While the cases from those three states reached the Supreme Court, more than 20 other states currently have active injunctions in place, meaning Trump’s policy remains blocked there for now.

States where the policy is still blocked include: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.

In states not on this list, Trump’s order will take effect 30 days from the ruling unless additional legal challenges are filed. Legal experts expect this will trigger a wave of new lawsuits both from states seeking broader blocks and from individuals or organizations preparing nationwide class action suits to challenge how the policy is carried out.