“I have been on the bench for over four decades. I can’t remember another case where the question presented was as clear,” said U.S. District Judge John Coughenour.
A federal judge has found that President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship is “blatantly unconstitutional.”
According to CNN, U.S. District Judge John Coughenour issued a temporary restraining order in response to a request filed by Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown and three other Democratic attorneys general. Coughenour’s order will delay implementation of Trump’s policy for the next 14 days while the court assesses more briefings.
“I have been on the bench for over four decades. I can’t remember another case where the question presented was as clear,” said Coughenour, who was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington by former President Ronald Reagan.
“Where were the lawyers?” Coughenour remarked.
The executive order, which was signed almost immediately after Trump took office, limits birthright citizenship to the children of U.S. citizens and U.S. legal residents. If enforced, the policy would prevent the children of students, tourists, and undocumented citizens from obtaining citizenship based solely on presence.
Lane Polozola, an attorney representing Washington, told the judge that a restraining order is necessary because “births cannot be paused” while the court determines the constitutionality of the policy.
“Babies are being born today here, and in the plaintiff states and around the country, with a cloud cast over their citizenship,” Polozola said, arguing that children denied citizenship under Trump’s executive order will almost certainly face “longterm [sic] substantial negative impacts.”
Polozola told that court that the Trump administration not only ignored these “negative impacts” when issuing the executive order, but that harm “appears to be the purpose” of the executive order.
WBAL-TV reports that Trump’s executive order prompted some attorneys general to share their own connections to birthright citizenship. Connecticut Attorney General Wiilliam Tong, a U.S. citizen by birthright and the country’s first elected Chinese-American attorney general, said that the case is personal.
“There is no legitimate legal debate on [the question of birthright citizenship],” Tong said. “But the fact that Trump is dead wrong will not prevent him from inflicting serious harm right on American families like my own.”
The executive order is facing a series of other legal challenges, including lawsuits filed by activists on behalf of immigrant plaintiffs. In one recent hearing, an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice told a Maryland-based federal judge that no federal agency has yet taken steps to enforce the order.
“The executive order was issued three days ago during a time of change of administration,” attorney Brad Rosenberg said. “And so it’s very early for the agencies to develop their policies that would be necessary.”
Another case, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and other immigration-advocacy organizations, is currently pending in New Hampshire, with an initial hearing scheduled for February 10.
Sources
Federal judge halts Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship
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