A federal judge temporarily blocked on Thursday the order issued by Donald Trump to eliminate birthright citizenship. This could be a prolonged legal battle.
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District Judge John C. Coughenour listened to 25 minutes of arguments and then blocked the executive order for 14 days. A new session will be scheduled to temporarily block the order while the case continues.
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"This is a blatantly unconstitutional order"
"I have been in the court for over four decades," said Coughenour, who was appointed by Ronald Reagan. "I don't recall another case where the issue raised was as clear as in this one. This is a blatantly unconstitutional order."
The states Washington, Arizona, Illinois, and Oregon tried to block the order before it went into effect at the end of February. Trump's order seeks to automatically limit the birthright citizenship of children of US citizens and green card holders, deeming it unconstitutional.
What does the US Constitution say?
According to the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, citizenship is granted to any person born in the United States, except for the children of diplomats.
In response to the decision of the United States Supreme Court in 1857 in the Dred Scott case: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to its jurisdiction, are citizens of the United States and of the State in which they reside."
"The President Trump and the federal government are now seeking to impose a modern version of Dred Scott," wrote the lawyers representing the four states in a court filing. "But nothing in the Constitution grants the President, federal agencies, or anyone else the authority to impose conditions on granting citizenship to people born in the United States."
“If a temporary restraining order is not issued, children born in the plaintiff States will soon become undocumented, subject to expulsion or detention, and many will become stateless,” the lawyers continued.