President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship suffered another major legal defeat Wednesday when the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a nationwide injunction blocking its enforcement.
In a 2-1 decision, the panel affirmed a lower court ruling by U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour in Seattle, who previously halted the executive order. The policy sought to deny citizenship to children born in the U.S. to parents who are in the country illegally or on temporary visas.
“The district court correctly concluded that the Executive Order’s proposed interpretation, denying citizenship to many persons born in the United States, is unconstitutional. We fully agree,” wrote Judges Michael Hawkins and Ronald Gould, both appointed by former President Bill Clinton.
Judge Patrick Bumatay, a Trump appointee, dissented, arguing that states lacked the legal standing to sue over the order. He did not address the underlying constitutional question.
Though the Supreme Court has recently moved to limit lower courts’ authority to issue nationwide injunctions, the majority found that this case fell under an exception recognized by the justices. The states that brought the lawsuit successfully argued that a universal injunction was necessary to prevent the chaos that could result if birthright citizenship rules varied by state.
“We conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in issuing a universal injunction in order to give the States complete relief,” Hawkins and Gould wrote.
The Trump administration contends that the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment — which guarantees citizenship to those “born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof” — does not automatically apply to children born to parents who are in the U.S. unlawfully or on temporary visas.
The executive order, announced last year, has triggered at least nine separate lawsuits across the country. It represents one of the most sweeping challenges to the long-established interpretation of the 14th Amendment since its ratification in 1868.
The Justice Department is expected to appeal, setting up a likely showdown at the Supreme Court over the scope of the Citizenship Clause.
