A federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday night to keep blocking former President Donald Trump’s executive order that aimed to end birthright citizenship. This decision could lead to a battle in the Supreme Court.
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied an emergency request from the Justice Department, which had asked to lift a Seattle judge’s ruling that stopped the order from being enforced. Previously, two other lawsuits filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and an immigrant rights group had also blocked the executive order. In this case, U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour ruled against the Trump administration, stating that their attempt to remove birthright citizenship was unconstitutional.
“I have been a judge for over 40 years, and I can’t recall another case where the issue was as clear as this one,” Judge Coughenour told a Justice Department lawyer. “This order is clearly unconstitutional.”
This latest court ruling increases the likelihood that the case will be heard by the Supreme Court, where conservative justices hold a 6-3 majority. At least nine lawsuits have already been filed to challenge the executive order. The Supreme Court has ruled on birthright citizenship before, with the most recent case being Plyler v. Doe in 1982. In that case, the court ruled that a Texas law preventing undocumented children from attending public schools was unconstitutional.
Justice William Brennan, who wrote the decision for Plyler v. Doe, rejected Texas’ argument that undocumented immigrants were not “persons within its jurisdiction.” He stated that the phrase “within its jurisdiction” in the 14th Amendment means that anyone living in a state, whether a citizen or not, is protected by the law.
The Trump administration used a similar argument in defending its executive order, claiming that noncitizens are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the U.S. and therefore their children born in the country should not automatically receive citizenship.
The core of this legal battle is the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which was ratified in 1868 after the Civil War. This amendment overturned the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision, which had ruled that an enslaved man, Dred Scott, was not a U.S. citizen despite living in a free state. The 14th Amendment clearly states that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to its jurisdiction, are citizens of the United States and the state in which they live.”
With this ruling, the debate over birthright citizenship continues, and the Supreme Court may ultimately decide its fate.
