Author Zachary Stieber kaudu Epoch Times,
A U.S. judge blocked President Donald Trump’s order restricting birthright citizenship on Jan. 23.
U.S. District Judge John Coughenour issued a temporary restraining order after a hearing in Seattle that prohibits the Trump administration from enforcing Trump’s order, which the president signed hours after taking office Monday, for 14 days.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“This is a blatantly unconstitutional order,” Coughenour spoke to a U.S. Department of Justice attorney at the hearing.
The verdict was made in a case brought by attorneys general of the states of Arizona, Illinois, Oregon and Washington. It was one of several lawsuits filed against the executive order.
Trump’s order was scheduled to take effect Feb. 19. It says that the federal government does not automatically recognize the birthright citizenship of children born to illegal immigrants in the United States.
Historically, children born on U.S. soil receive U.S. citizenship.
It is based on court rulings interpreting the U.S. Constitution, which states in part that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States who are subject to its jurisdiction are citizens of the United States.” Congress also passed a law containing a similar language.
Trump’s order states that the constitution’s citizenship clause “has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to anyone born in the United States” and “has always excluded birthright from citizenship individuals born in the United States but not subject to ‘its jurisdiction.'”
It clarifies that the federal government does not automatically grant citizenship to infants whose mothers are located in the United States and whose fathers are not U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents.
In his request for a temporary restraining order, state officials said Trump exceeded his authority by order, describing it as “in stark contrast to the text and history of the Fourteenth Amendment, a century-old Supreme Court precedent, a longstanding interpretation of the executive branch, and the Immigration and Citizenship Act.”
Without court intervention, the order would leave more than 150,000 children born this year stateless because their parents are in the country illegally, according to the attorney general.
Government officials said in response that the court should not issue a restraining order because states have not received any injuries and because the plaintiffs are unlikely to succeed.
“There is ample historical evidence that the children of non-resident foreigners are subject to foreign powers – and thus are not subject to United States jurisdiction and are not constitutionally justified by birthright citizenship,” government lawyers said.
This included a Supreme Court judge who wrote in legal commentaries that birthright citizenship should not apply to infants whose parents were in the country “for temporary purposes.”
Coughenour sided with the states, saying in the courtroom before Justice Department attorney Brett Shumate had even stopped saying he had signed the restraining order sought by the states.
The two-week injunction is in effect until Coughenour considers issuing a preliminary injunction, which would likely remain in place if the case goes ahead in court.
Schumate argued at Thursday’s hearing that the executive order is constitutional and that any order that blocks it would be “wildly inappropriate.”
