Supreme Court limits nationwide blocks in Birthright Citizenship case
The U.S. Supreme Court handed President Donald Trump a major victory on Friday in a case involving birthright citizenship by curbing the ability of judges to impede his policies nationwide, changing the power balance between the federal judiciary and presidents.
The 6-3 ruling, authored by conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, did not let Trump's directive restricting birthright citizenship go into effect immediately, directing lower courts that blocked it to reconsider the scope of their orders. The ruling also did not address the legality of the policy, part of Trump's hardline approach toward immigration.
What does Trump's "Birthright Citizenship" order seek?
On his first day back in office, Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to refuse to recognize the citizenship of children born in the United States who do not have at least one parent who is an American citizen or lawful permanent resident, also called a "green card" holder.
Plaintiffs who challenged it, including the Democratic attorneys general of 22 states as well as immigrant rights advocates and pregnant immigrants, said more than 150,000 newborns would be denied citizenship annually under Trump's directive.
Majority reasoning
Barrett wrote for the majority:
"No one disputes that the Executive has a duty to follow the law. But the Judiciary does not have unbridled authority to enforce this obligation - in fact, sometimes the law prohibits the Judiciary from doing so."
Dissent
Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor called the ruling a "travesty for the rule of law" as she read a summary of her dissent from the bench. She wrote:
"Yet the order's patent unlawfulness reveals the gravity of the majority's error and underscores why equity supports universal injunctions as appropriate remedies in this kind of case,"
Sotomayor said Trump's executive order is obviously unconstitutional. She advised parents of children who would be affected by Trump's order "to file promptly class action suits and to request temporary injunctive relief for the putative class."
Trump called the ruling a "monumental victory for the Constitution, the separation of powers and the rule of law."
Speaking from the White House, he said:
"I am grateful to the Supreme Court for stepping in and solving this big and complex problem. They have made it very simple. Thanks to this decision, we can now properly file to proceed with numerous policies...Some of the cases we are talking about would be ending birthright citizenship, which now comes to the fore, that was meant for the babies of slaves. It was not meant for people trying to scam the system and come into the country on a vacation."
He also called it an "amazing decision, one that we're very happy about." He said it struck down "the excessive use of nationwide injunctions to interfere with the normal functioning of the executive branch."
What changes now?
The ruling specified that Trump's executive order cannot take effect until 30 days after Friday's ruling. The court granted the administration's request to narrow the scope of three so-called "universal" injunctions issued by federal judges in Maryland, Massachusetts and Washington state that halted enforcement of his directive nationwide as litigation challenging the policy plays out.
The decision leaves open other paths for broad relief. Maryland-based U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman scheduled a Monday hearing after immigration rights advocates filed a motion asking her to treat the case as a class action and block the policy nationwide again.
The American Civil Liberties Union called the ruling troubling but limited. Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project, said:
"The executive order is blatantly illegal and cruel. It should never be applied to anyone,"
A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted June 11-12 found 24% of all respondents supported ending birthright citizenship and 52% opposed it.
Among Democrats, 5% supported ending it, with 84% opposed.
Among Republicans, 43% supported ending it, with 24% opposed.
The plaintiffs argued Trump's directive ran afoul of the 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868.
The amendment's citizenship clause 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 U.S. Supreme Court was set to issue the final rulings of its nine-month term on Tuesday, June 30, including cases involving President Donald Trump's bid to limit birthright citizenship
