Two federal district courts – one in Maryland and one in Washington – recently issued injunctions blocking Donald Trump’s executive order denying birthright citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants and those in the US on temporary visas. The Washington decision was written by Judge John Coughenour (a Reagan appointee), and the Maryland one by Judge Deborah Boardman (appointed by Biden). Between them, the two rulings do a good job of highlighting the weaknesses of Trump’s position on this issue, which goes against the text and original meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment, and longstanding precedent. As Judge Boardman summarizes, “[t]he Executive Order flouts the plain language of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, conflicts with binding Supreme Court precedent, and runs counter to our nation’s 250-year history of citizenship by birth.”
Reason’s Jacob Sullum has a helpful summary and discussion of the two rulings here.
I have previously written about this issue here, here, and here. One key point worth reiterating is that many of the arguments put forward by the administration and its supporters would also have allowed denial of birthright citizenship to many formerly enslaved blacks (even though giving them citizenship was the main purpose of the Birthright Citizenship Clause), and to children of permanent resident legal immigrants, as well. The latter is a logical implication of the administration’s argument that birthright citizenship is denied to children of parents who, by virtue of being citizens of another nation, owe that government “allegiance.”
The administration will appeal these rulings and the legal battle will continue, possibly all the way to the Supreme Court. So far, however, courts have forcefully rejected the government’s weak arguments.
