U.S. appeals court blocks Trump's order curtailing birthright citizenship

A federalappealscourtruled Wednesday that U.S. PresidentDonald Trump’s executiveordercurtailingautomaticbirthrightcitizenshipis unconstitutional and blocked its enforcement nationwide.

The2-1 decisionby the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. CircuitCourtofAppealsmarked the first time anappealscourthas assessed the legality ofTrump’sordersince the U.S. SupremeCourtin June curbed the power of lowercourtjudges to enjoin that and other federal policies on a nationwide basis.

The SupremeCourt’s June 27 ruling in litigation overTrump’sbirthrightcitizenshiporderlimited the ability of judges to issue so-called universal injunctions and directed lowercourts that had blocked the Republican president’s policy nationally to reconsider the scope of theirorders.

But the ruling contained exceptions allowingcourts to potentially still block it nationally again. That has already allowed a judge in New Hampshire toonce again haltTrump’sorderfrom taking effect by issuing an injunction in a nationwide class action of children who would be deniedcitizenshipunder the policy.

The 9th Circuit’s majority in Wednesday’s ruling said the Democratic-led states that had sued to block the policy – Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon – likewise still were entitled to a nationwide injunction as a more narroworderwould not provide them “complete relief.”

“Thecourtagrees that the president cannot redefine what it means to be American with the stroke of a pen,” Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said in a statement.

The Trump administration could either ask a wider panel of 9th Circuit judges to hear the case or appeal directly to the SupremeCourt, which is expected to have the final word in the litigation. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump signed theorderon Jan. 20, his first day back in office, as part of his hardline approach toward immigration.

Trump’sorderdirected federal agencies torefuse to recognizethecitizenshipof U.S.-born children who do not have at least one parent who is an American citizen or lawful permanent resident, also known as a “green card” holder.

It was swiftly challenged incourtby Democratic attorneys general from 22 states and immigrant rights advocates who argued it violates thecitizenshipclause of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, long been understood to recognize that virtually anyone born in the United States is a citizen.

The Constitution’s 14th Amendmentcitizenshipclause states that 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 first judge to blockTrump’sdirective was Seattle-based U.S. District Judge John Coughenour, an appointee of Republican President Ronald Reagan, who called it “blatantly unconstitutional.” The 9th Circuit’s ruling upheld his decision.

U.S. Circuit Judge Ronald Gould, writing for Wednesday’s majority, said Coughenour rightly concluded thatTrump’sexecutiveorderviolated thecitizenshipclause of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment by denyingcitizenshipto many persons born in the United States.

Gould said a geographically limited injunction would harm the four states by forcing them to overhaul their government benefits programs to account for how people deniedcitizenshipunderTrump’sordermight move into them.

“It is impossible to avoid this harm absent a uniform application of thecitizenshipclause throughout the United States,” Gould wrote.

His opinion was joined by U.S. Circuit Judge Michael Hawkins, a fellow appointee of Democratic President Bill Clinton.

U.S. Circuit Judge Patrick Bumatay, a Trump appointee, dissented, saying in his view the Democratic-led states lacked standing to challengeTrump’sorder, as he warned of the risks of “judicial overreach.”