Rising This Week: Birthright citizenship ban's first big fight, post-SCOTUS

After the Supreme Court ended nationwide injunctions, the federal judiciary faces its first test of its power to stop Trump from rewriting the Constitution.

A woman holds a sign outside of SCOTUS ( (Photo by Drew Angerer/AFP via Getty)

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At the time of its last Census count, New Hampshire’s capital city of Concord had a total population of just under 44,000 people, but it will be the site this week of a key test of the federal judiciary’s power to prevent Donald Trump from rewriting constitutional amendments through executive fiat.

That’s because a hearing will take place inside a federal court in that city in a class action lawsuit seeking to block Trump’s birthright citizenship ban.

Earlier this year, three federal judges issued nationwide injunctions against the policy, and one of them was U.S. District Judge Joseph LaPlante of New Hampshire. But that was before the Supreme Court all but abolished universal injunctions, except in cases involving class action lawsuits, violations of the Administrative Procedure Act, and a limited number of other situations.

Almost immediately, two class action lawsuits were filed, and LaPlante scheduled the first hearing to take place on Thursday in Barbara v. Trump. The proposed classes in both complaints include all past and future babies whose citizenship is threatened by Trump’s order. The plaintiffs are now racing against a July 27 deadline, when Trump’s birthright citizenship ban can be enforced.

“Once the 30-day pause expires, the stay threatens to leave literally millions of families around the country unprotected,” the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire’s lawyer SangYeob Kim wrote in a recent motion.

All Rise News will cover the proceedings on the ground for the hearing in Concord, N.H. on Thursday.

New York City likes to consider itself the center of the media universe, but that’s not really true.

Every election cycle, New Hampshire boasts about being first in the nation, and a federal judge in the Granite State now has the distinction of potentially becoming the first to vote on the future of the 14th Amendment. The courtroom where Judge LaPlante will make this decision has no remote audio or video access. It requires reporters on the ground to become the eyes and ears of the public for this historic hearing.

On Monday, a federal judge in Maryland will decide whether she has the power to order the government not to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia from the United States once again until after his criminal trial. Abrego’s lawyers also will request that their client be allowed to prepare for that trial in Maryland, where his wife and three children live.

Over in Boston, a nine-day trial will start on Monday to determine whether a judge will block the Trump administration from targeting pro-Palestinian protesters from retaliation for their speech.

That’s why I will be traveling to Maryland, Massachusetts and New Hampshire this week. I love being a New Yorker, but my city isn’t always where the most important stories are.

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This week, All Rise News will launch weekly live-streams for paid subscribers on Fridays, as an additional benefit and “thank you” for those sustaining our coverage. Below this paywall, we have our usual listings of court proceedings and protests, with the times, places and locations for those who want to attend.