Three judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Massachusetts upheld a temporary block on an executive order issued by the Trump administration in January that would take away birthright citizenship for the children of some immigrants.
Judge Joseph Laplante, a federal judge based in New Hampshire, temporarily blocked the order from taking effect in February. The government appealed this block, but the appeals court upheld Laplante’s original decision on Friday.
“The ‘lessons of history’ thus give us every reason to be wary of now blessing this most recent effort to break with our established tradition of recognizing birthright citizenship and to make citizenship depend on the actions of one's parents rather than --in all but the rarest of circumstances– the simple fact of being born in the United States.” the court said in a related opinion.
This opinion is the latest in nearly a dozen lawsuits against the executive order, which directs federal agencies to not issue citizenship documents to babies born to undocumented immigrants or parents with lawful but temporary status
If this executive order stands, it would affect members of the Dover-based nonprofit New Hampshire Indonesian Community Support. They joined the New Hampshire ACLU and several nonprofit organizations in the region to sue the president because they say the order is unconstitutional.
SangYeob Kim, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of New Hampshire, celebrated the court’s opinion, saying it strengthens their case against the executive order.
“The federal appeals court today reinforced that this executive order is a flagrant violation of the U.S. Constitution — and we agree,” he said. “Our Constitution is clear: no politician can decide who among those born in this country is worthy of citizenship.”
Despite dozens of temporary blocks on this and other birthright cases, most of the cases themselves are still pending and may end up before the U.S. Supreme Court. The Department of Justice asked the Supreme Court take up these cases, including the one filed by the Indonesian Community Support.
With the support of the appeals court and dozens of other judges, the lawyers arguing this case are optimistic about their chances in court.
“Not one judge has bought the administration’s flawed arguments,” said lead ACLU lawyer Cody Wofsy. “The government is now petitioning the Supreme Court in hopes of getting a different answer. But the Constitution is clear, and we will keep fighting this lawless order until it is struck down once and for all.”.
These cases already went to the Supreme Court, but the court didn’t deal with the lawsuits themselves. Instead, they ruled that judges in lower courts can’t issue nationwide injunctions.
In response, the New Hampshire ACLU filed a separate class action lawsuit in June on behalf of a class of babies that might be affected by the executive order. Laplante certified the class and also issued a temporary block in this case in July, making the block effective nationwide.
Now, the Department of Justice wants the Supreme Court to decide the content of all these lawsuits and the Supreme Court needs to decide whether it will weigh in.
