The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s executive order to limit birthright citizenship is “unconstitutional,” upholding a lower court’s decision to block the federal order, according to a court filing.
On the day of Trump’s inauguration in January, the president signed a slew of executive orders addressing border concerns, including one to end birthright citizenship for illegal aliens and immigrants with only temporary legal status. After months of legal battles, George W. Bush appointee District Court Judge Joseph Laplante issued a nationwide block July 10.
The decision from Laplante came about two weeks after the Supreme Court ended lower courts’ ability to block Trump administration policies — but left room for plaintiffs to file class action lawsuits against the order.
The appeals court ruled the order unconstitutional in a 2-1 vote, with Judge Ronald M. Gould writing the opinion for the court.
“We conclude that the Executive Order is invalid because it contradicts the plain language of the Fourteenth Amendment’s grant of citizenship to ‘all persons born in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,’” Gould’s opinion states.
“Because the Individual Plaintiffs are covered by a certified class action in another federal court, we decline to exercise jurisdiction over their claims and dismiss them,” Gould added. “But because State Plaintiffs have standing and are likely to succeed in demonstrating that the Executive Order is unconstitutional, we affirm the district court’s grant of a preliminary injunction and its determination that a universal preliminary injunction is necessary to give the States complete relief on their claims.”
The decision from the panel comes as the first time an appeals court has stepped in to rule on the birthright executive order, according to CNN. While the Trump administration could option to ask the full panel of the 9th Circuit to review the case, they could possibly decide to take the case straight to the Supreme Court, the outlet reported.
Trump-appointee Appeals Court Judge Patrick Bumatay notably dissented from the ruling on Wednesday, saying that the state that challenged Trump’s order didn’t have the legal “standing” to bring forward the case.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Screen Capture/CSPAN)
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