A federal judge in Seattle on Thursday called President Donald Trump’s administration’s implementation of an executive order curtailing automatic birthright citizenship rights in the United States “blatantly unconstitutional.”
At the request of four Democratic-led states, U.S. District Judge John Cornow issued a temporary restraining order blocking the administration from enforcing the order.
The order is already the subject of five lawsuits by civil rights groups and Democratic attorneys general from 22 states, who call it a flagrant violation of the U.S. Constitution.
“Under this order, no baby born today will be counted as a U.S. citizen,” Washington Attorney General Lane Polozola told Judge John Cornow at the start of the hearing in Seattle.
Polozola – On behalf of the Democratic state attorneys general of Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon, issued a temporary restraining order to prevent the administration from enacting this key element of Trump’s immigration crackdown urged the judge to do so.
At a press conference outside court after the restraining order was issued, Polozola said: Tone for the seriousness of this endeavor. ”
Polozola and other challengers argue that Trump’s actions violate the correct clause enshrined in the Citizenship Clause of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which provides that anyone born in the United States is a citizen. I am.
In his executive order, Trump directed U.S. agencies to deny citizenship to children born in the U.S. if neither the mother nor father is a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident.
In a brief filed late Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice ordered “an essential part” of the president’s efforts to address “this country’s broken immigration system and the ongoing crisis at our southern border.” I called it.
The lawsuit filed in Seattle is moving faster than the four other lawsuits that prompted the executive order. It was assigned to Coughenour, an appointee of former Republican President Ronald Reagan.
The justices could rule from the bench after hearing arguments or could wait to write a decision before Trump’s order takes effect.
Under the order, children born after February 19th whose mothers or fathers are not citizens or lawful permanent residents will be subject to deportation and will have their Social Security numbers, various government benefits, and benefits as they grow older. , which prevents them from acquiring abilities as they grow older. legally.
More than 150,000 newborns would be denied citizenship if Trump’s order is allowed to stand, according to Democratic-led states.
The Democratic attorney general said the understanding of the Constitution’s citizenship clause was solidified 127 years ago, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that children born in the United States to noncitizens are entitled to American citizenship. .
The 14th Amendment was adopted in 1868 after the Civil War, overturning the Supreme Court’s infamous Scott decision of 1857, which declared that the protections of the Constitution did not apply to enslaved black people.
But the Justice Department said in its brief that the 14th Amendment has never been interpreted to universally extend citizenship rights to all persons born in the country, and that the Supreme Court’s 1898 ruling in the U.S. , claimed it concerned only children of permanent residents.
The Justice Department said the case also “flows multiple threshold hurdles” by four states. The department said states lack the necessary legal standing to sue Trump’s order, as only individuals, not states, can pursue claims under the citizenship clause.
Thirty-six of Trump’s Republican allies in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday separately introduced legislation to limit automatic citizenship to only children born to citizens or lawful permanent residents.
