Federal judge in New Hampshire stayed the order for seven days to allow the Department of Justice to appeal. He called birthright citizenship "the greatest privilege that exists in the world."

The judge also granted the case class-action status after the Supreme Court limited the ability of judges to block orders nationwide through other means.

Trump’s executive order, signed in January, seeks to deny citizenship to children who are born to people who are living in the U.S. illegally or temporarily. It is part of the hard-line immigration agenda of the president, who has called birthright citizenship a “magnet for illegal immigration.”