Trump’s executive order unconstitutional
Another bunch of AG Pam Bondi’s “rogue judges,” no doubt. A three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit on Wednesday declared unconstitutional Donald Trump’s executive order claiming to end birthright citizenship. They upheld a nationwide ban on its implementation. The Washington Post reports that the panel ruled 2-1 that his attempt to deny “automatic citizenship to the U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants and temporary foreign visitors” violates the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
Trump acting in an unconstitutional manner? Shocking!
The Washington Post continues:
The appeals panel also affirmed a lower court’s nationwide injunction, calling the measure necessary and appropriate to protect the states from potential harm if Trump’s order took effect. The case was brought by a coalition of Democratic-led states and was first heard by a district judge in Seattle.
The decision came despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month siding with the Trump administration’s argument that several federal judges had exceeded their authority in issuing universal injunctions against the birthright citizenship order.
“The district court correctly concluded that the Executive Order’s proposed interpretation, denying citizenship to many persons born in the United States, is unconstitutional. We fully agree,” Judge Ronald M. Gould wrote in the majority opinion, which was joined by Judge Michael Daly Hawkins. They were both appointed to the federal bench by former president Bill Clinton. Judge Patrick J. Bumatay, a Trump appointee, dissented in part.
The majority found that this case fell under one of the exceptions SCOTUS left open in its universal injunctions ruling for certified class actions.
The Trump judge dissented over the universal injunction issued by the lower court and disagreed over the states’ standing to bring the case. Citing the separation of powers doctrine, Bumatay asserts that it’s important that the judiciary stay in its lane.
No comment on the president staying in his.
The 9th Circuit’s decision means that two nationwide injunctions are in effect and signals that the case could quickly return to the Supreme Court to determine whether the rulings are consistent with its order.
“The court agrees that the president cannot redefine what it means to be American with the stroke of a pen,” Washington state Attorney General Nick Brown, whose state was among those that brought the lawsuit, said on social media. “He cannot strip away the rights, liberties, and protections of children born in our country.”
Trump’s SCOTUS majority will get another chance shortly to swat down this ruling. Stay tuned.
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