A federal appeals court has struck down President Donald Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship, ruling that his executive order contradicts the U.S. Constitution. In a 2-1 decision delivered Wednesday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declared Trump’s executive order unconstitutional, affirming a lower court’s earlier ruling.
The executive order, signed on Trump’s first day in office, sought to deny automatic citizenship to children born on U.S. soil to undocumented parents. “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 Judge Ronald Gould, a Bill Clinton appointee, in the court’s majority opinion. Gould was joined by Judge Michael Hawkins, also a Clinton appointee. Judge Patrick Bumatay, appointed by Trump, issued a partial dissent. While Bumatay did not directly defend the order, he argued that the states lacked the authority to bring the case.
The panel ruled that the executive order violated the clear language of the Fourteenth Amendment, which grants citizenship to “all persons born in the United States.” This decision effectively halts the nationwide enforcement of Trump’s controversial immigration directive.
Trump’s order, titled “Protecting The Meaning And Value Of American Citizenship,” was immediately challenged in court and met with multiple injunctions from federal judges. It was blocked in February by U.S. District Judge John Coughenour, a Ronald Reagan appointee based in Seattle. That ruling has now been upheld by the appellate court.
The case was filed by Democratic attorneys general from Washington, Arizona, Illinois, and Oregon. They contended that the executive order, if enforced only in certain jurisdictions, would create confusion and inequality across the nation. This is the second court decision to strike down Trump’s order since the U.S. Supreme Court issued new limitations on nationwide injunctions.
Earlier this month, a federal judge in New Hampshire also blocked the policy nationwide by certifying a class-action lawsuit. Although the Supreme Court has not yet weighed in on the constitutionality of the executive order itself, it previously ruled that lower courts should be cautious when issuing nationwide injunctions.
Trump’s legal team had argued that the district courts overstepped their bounds in doing so. Nonetheless, every court that has reviewed the substance of the order has found it to be unconstitutional, dealing a significant legal blow to one of the former president’s key immigration policies.