President Donald Trump’s bid to restrict birthright citizenship was ruled unconstitutional by a second U.S. appeals court on Friday, delivering another setback to a central pillar of his hardline immigration agenda. The case now appears headed toward a potential showdown at the U.S. Supreme Court.
A three-judge panel of the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld injunctions obtained by Democratic-led states and immigrant rights groups, which have blocked Trump’s executive order from taking effect nationwide.
Trump’s order, issued on January 20, his first day back in office directed federal agencies to deny citizenship to U.S.-born children unless at least one parent is an American citizen or a lawful permanent resident (green card holder).
In the court’s opinion, U.S. Circuit Judge David Barron wrote that Trump’s order violated the 14th Amendment, which guarantees citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil.
“The length of our 100-page ruling should not be mistaken as proof that the fundamental question was difficult,” Barron stated, joined by two other judges appointed by Democratic presidents.
“It is not—which may explain why it has been more than a century since any branch of our government has made as concerted an effort as the Executive Branch now makes to deny Americans their birthright.”
The White House, through spokesperson Abigail Jackson, expressed disagreement with the ruling.
“The court has misinterpreted the 14th Amendment. We look forward to being vindicated by the Supreme Court,” she said.
The 1st Circuit’s decision upheld earlier rulings by U.S. District Judges Leo Sorokin in Boston and Joseph Laplante in Concord, New Hampshire, both of whom blocked the order earlier this year.
Friday’s ruling follows a similar decision in July by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which also found Trump’s order unconstitutional for violating the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause.
Last week, the administration petitioned the Supreme Court to review both the 9th Circuit case and a related one. If accepted, it would mark the second time the litigation reaches the high court. Earlier in June, the Supreme Court’s 6–3 conservative majority curtailed judges’ power to issue nationwide injunctions against Trump’s policies but did not address the constitutionality of the birthright citizenship order itself.
Although that ruling limited the reach of lower courts’ injunctions, judges have continued to block Trump’s order nationwide. Both Sorokin and Laplante reaffirmed their injunctions Laplante doing so in a newly filed nationwide class action case, which the Supreme Court’s earlier decision indicated was a permissible approach.
Despite the Supreme Court’s guidance, the policy remains halted across the country as the legal battle continues.
