“Blatantly Unconstitutional…”: Federal Judge Blocks Trump's Executive Order on Birthright Citizenship

A federal judge in Seattle has blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from enforcing an executive order that sought to limit automatic birthright citizenship in the United States. U.S. District Judge John Coughenour described the order as "blatantly unconstitutional" and issued a temporary restraining order following a request from four Democratic-led states. The order had been signed by Trump on his first day in office and sought to end the practice of granting citizenship to children born in the U.S. to parents who are not citizens or legal residents.

"This is blatantly unconstitutional," Judge Coughenour told a lawyer from the U.S. Justice Department who was defending the order. The executive order has already sparked multiple lawsuits, including five from civil rights organizations and Democratic state attorneys general representing 22 states. The challengers argue that the order violates the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause, which guarantees citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil.

Washington Assistant Attorney General Lane Polozola, representing the states of Washington, Arizona, Illinois, and Oregon, argued that Trump's action undermines the rights enshrined in the Constitution. "Under this order, babies being born today don't count as U.S. citizens," Polozola said at the start of a hearing in Seattle.

Trump’s executive order directs U.S. agencies to refuse to recognize the citizenship of children born in the U.S. to parents who are neither U.S. citizens nor legal permanent residents. The Justice Department has defended the order, calling it "an integral part" of the president's broader efforts to reform the immigration system and address the crisis at the southern border.

 The executive order, if upheld, would have far-reaching consequences. It would deny citizenship to over 150,000 children born in the U.S. each year if their parents are not citizens or lawful permanent residents. These children would also face potential deportation and would be barred from obtaining Social Security numbers, government benefits, and legal employment as they grow older.

Democratic state attorneys general argue that the interpretation of the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause was settled in 1898 by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that children born in the U.S. to non-citizen parents are entitled to American citizenship. The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868 after the Civil War, was designed to ensure citizenship rights for formerly enslaved Black Americans, overturning the 1857 Dred Scott decision.

However, the Justice Department contends that the 14th Amendment has never been understood to guarantee universal citizenship for all children born in the U.S. The department points to the 1898 Supreme Court case United States v. Wong Kim Ark, which only applied to children of permanent residents, not those of undocumented immigrants or non-residents.

The Justice Department further argues that the states bringing the case lack standing to sue under the citizenship clause, as only individuals, not states, can challenge such constitutional matters.

In addition to the lawsuits, 36 Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives introduced separate legislation on Tuesday to restrict automatic citizenship to children born only to U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents.