Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship

Donald Trump has faced his first judicial setback regarding his executive orders. A federal district judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the executive order that sought to deny U.S. citizenship to the children of undocumented migrants. The measure was one of the first actions taken by the Republican president after his arrival at the White House, when he signed a series of executive orders targeting immigrants. Legal experts had warned that the order would face significant challenges, as it directly conflicts with the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which has guaranteed citizenship to anyone born in the U.S. since 1868, regardless of their parents’ immigration status.

Judge John Coughenour sided with the states of Washington, Arizona, Illinois, and Oregon, which collectively filed a lawsuit to challenge the executive action, signed by Trump on January 20. The court’s ruling applies to one of the five lawsuits filed against the executive order, which has sparked numerous appeals from a total of 22 states and garnered support from several human rights organizations. The first lawsuit was filed just minutes after Trump signed the order by groups including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Judge Coughenour called the order “blatantly unconstitutional” at the hearing, which took place before Justice Department attorney Brett Shumate, who was defending Trump’s position. “Frankly, I have difficulty understanding how a member of the Bar could state unequivocally that this is a constitutional order,” said the judge. With over four decades on the bench since being appointed by Republican President Ronald Reagan, he noted that he could not recall any measure in his career that was so clearly unconstitutional.

The judge’s ruling will remain in effect for two weeks, temporarily preventing the controversial measure from taking effect. The executive order, which cannot be applied retroactively, asserts that “the privilege of United States citizenship does not automatically extend to persons born in the United States: (1) when that person’s mother was unlawfully present in the United States and the father was not a United States citizen.” It also denies citizenship to children whose parents are in the U.S. on temporary work, education, or tourist visas.

The Justice Department argued Wednesday that the states lacked sufficient standing to bring the case, despite many lawsuits being accompanied by names and testimony from pregnant women whose children could be directly impacted by the measure, which was set to take effect on February 19.

Coughenour’s decision marks the first in what is expected to become a prolonged legal battle between the executive and its opponents. The Seattle judge’s order sets the executive order on a path through a series of appeals, ultimately making its way to the Supreme Court, where it could take months to reach a final resolution. The Trumpist camp hopes that the conservative justices appointed to the Supreme Court during Trump’s first term will break with over 150 years of legal tradition and rule in favor of denying citizenship to the children of undocumented immigrants.

In 2022, approximately 255,000 babies were born in the U.S. to undocumented mothers, representing 7% of all births that year. When Trump signed his executive order, he told the cameras that the U.S. was “the only country in the world” that upheld the principle of jus soli—the right of the soil—arguing that it should be abolished. This claim, however, is incorrect; around 30 countries still maintain the practice, including the U.S.’s neighboring powers and key partners, Mexico and Canada.

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