Trump’s birthright citizenship order ruled unconstitutional by appeals court

A federal appeals court has upheld a nationwide block on President Donald Trump’s executive order that sought to deny U.S. citizenship to children born to undocumented immigrants or noncitizen parents.

The ruling, issued Wednesday by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, found that the order violates the Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees citizenship to “all persons born in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.”

Trump’s order, signed in January, directed federal agencies to stop recognizing as citizens children born in the U.S. if their mothers were in the country unlawfully or temporarily and their fathers were not U.S. citizens or permanent residents.

The majority opinion, written by Judge Ronald Gould, concluded that the order’s interpretation was inconsistent with Supreme Court precedent and longstanding legal understanding.

“The district court correctly concluded that the Executive Order’s proposed interpretation, denying citizenship to many persons born in the United States, is unconstitutional,” the opinion said. “We fully agree.”

The lawsuit was brought by the states of Washington, Arizona, Illinois, and Oregon, as well as individual plaintiffs who were pregnant and seeking asylum.

The court said the states had standing to sue because the policy would cause financial harm by jeopardizing federal reimbursements for programs like Medicaid and foster care.

The appeals court also upheld a nationwide injunction, saying a narrower order would not prevent harm due to the interstate nature of citizenship documents and benefits. One judge, Patrick Bumatay, partially dissented, arguing that the states should not have been allowed to sue.