Judge Halts Trump’s Bid to End Birthright Citizenship: ‘Blatantly Unconstitutional’

A federal judge has temporarily blocked the enforcement of President Donald Trump’s executive order ending the 14th Amendment guarantee of citizenship to anyone born in the United States, also known as birthright citizenship.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge John Coughenour sided with a lawsuit brought by Arizona, Illinois, Oregon, and Washington challenging the constitutionality of the order. The request is one of five lawsuits brought by 22 states in the aftermath of the order, and the first to make it before a federal court. The ACLU has also challenged the order in court.

Trump signed an executive order on Monday claiming that “the Fourteenth Amendment has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States.”

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“The Fourteenth Amendment has always excluded from birthright citizenship persons who were born in the United States but not ‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof,’” the order continued, commanding federal agencies to deny citizenship documents to the children of parents who are “unlawfully present in the United States,” or who were in the United States under temporary legal status. If allowed to stand, the policy would go into effect in February.

Coughenour, who was appointed by Republican President Ronald Reagan, said on Thursday that the order is “blatantly unconstitutional.”

“I’ve been on the bench for over four decades,” he added. “I can’t remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one.… There are other times in world history where we look back and people of goodwill can say where were the judges, where were the lawyers? I have difficulty understanding how a member of the Bar could state unequivocally that this is a constitutional order […] It just boggles my mind.”

Trump’s order to torch the 14th Amendment is certainly not his first that will be hit with a barrage of legal challenges. He was not thrilled with Coughenour’s decision when asked about it later on Thursday. “Obviously we’ll appeal it,” he said. “There’s no surprises with that judge.”

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