‘Most precious right’: Donald Trump's birthright citizenship order faces second legal setback
The current injunction has put the executive order on hold until the merits of the case are resolved, barring a successful appeal by the Trump administration.
President Donald Trump's executive order to end birthright citizenship for children born to parents who entered the US illegally has faced another setback, with a second federal judge issuing a nationwide pause on the measure.
Calling citizenship a “most precious right”, US District Judge Deborah Boardman said on Wednesday that no court in the country has endorsed the Trump administration's interpretation of the 14th Amendment. She said that her court won't become the first one to do it.
“Citizenship is a most precious right, expressly granted by the 14th Amendment to the Constitution," Boardman was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.
Boardman said that only a nationwide injunction on the order could provide relief to the plaintiffs in the case, adding that citizenship is a “national concern that demands a uniform policy.”
The executive order on birthright citizenship, one of the first actions of President Donald Trump after his inauguration last month, was on a temporary hold till Thursday. A separate suit brought by four states in Washington state got a temporary injunction, with the judge calling the order “blatantly unconstitutional.”
Now, the current injunction has put the executive order on hold until the case's merits are resolved, barring a successful appeal by the Trump administration. On being asked by judge Boardman if they would file an appeal to the ruling, the government attorney said he didn't have the authority to take a position at that moment.
Boardman, nominated by former President Joe Biden, agreed to the preliminary injunction after a hearing in federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland. Immigrant-rights advocacy groups CASA and Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, and a handful of expectant mothers brought the suit before Boardman.
In total, 22 states, as well as other organizations, have sued to try to stop the executive action. Further hearings, similar to the one Boardman conducted on Wednesday, are due later this week in other birthright citizenship cases.
In addition to the 22 states with Democratic attorneys general seeking to stop the order, 18 Republican attorneys general announced this week that they're seeking to defend the president's order by joining one of the federal suits brought in New Hampshire.
What is the argument behind Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship?
The Donald Trump administration asserts that children of noncitizens are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and therefore not entitled to citizenship under the 14th amendment.
“The Constitution does not harbor a windfall clause granting American citizenship to, inter alia: the children of those who have circumvented (or outright defied) federal immigration laws,” the government argued in reply to the Maryland plaintiffs' suit.
Even Trump himself has said that the birthright citizenship wasn't for the whole world to "come in and pile" into the US.
The 14th Amendment was added in the aftermath of the Civil War to ensure citizenship for former slaves and free African Americans. It states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
The amendment has been a part of the US Constitution since 1868 after the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision that determined Scott, a slave, wasn't a citizen.
The US is among about 30 countries where birthright citizenship — the principle of jus soli or “right of the soil” — is applied. Most are in the Americas, and Canada and Mexico are among them.
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