Mere days after signing the executive order, President Trump’s plan to end birthright citizenship has been blocked. How will this legal battle end?

From NBC News. A federal district court judge on Thursday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at limiting birthright citizenship …

View Comments (2)

This content is supported by your donations.
Give today.

Senior U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour heard 25 minutes of arguments and then issued an order from the bench blocking the policy from taking effect for 14 days. There will be a further briefing on a preliminary injunction to permanently block the executive order while the case proceeds.

“I’ve been on the bench for over four decades,” Coughenour, a Ronald Reagan appointee, said. “I can’t remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one. This is a blatantly unconstitutional order.”

The case comes as four states (Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon) sought to block the order before it is supposed to take effect in late February. It’s one of five lawsuits filed by Democratic attorneys general and immigrant rights organizations challenging the order — which seeks to limit automatic birthright citizenship to children of U.S. citizens and green card holders — as unconstitutional.

The Constitution’s 14th Amendment has long been understood to grant automatic citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil except the children of foreign diplomats. …

If implemented, Trump’s order would cause the plaintiff states to lose federal funding that supports programs like Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the lawyers argue. …

“Absent a temporary restraining order, children born in the Plaintiff States will soon be rendered undocumented, subject to removal or detention, and many stateless,” the lawyers continued. …

In their filings, Justice Department lawyers told Coughenour that the birthright citizenship order is an “integral part” of Trump’s efforts to “address this nation’s broken immigration system and the ongoing crisis at the southern border.”

Not only does Trump have the authority to issue the order, they argue, but the states lack standing to sue based on their alleged economic harms. …

Ultimately, the case is likely to be appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

What do you think of this ruling? Share your thoughts and prayers below.

(Excerpt from NBC News. Photo Credit: Sora Shimazaki/Pexels)