US Judge Blocks Donald Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Order: Why It’s ‘Blatantly Unconstitutional’

US Judge Blocks Birthright Citizenship Order: A US federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump from implementing an executive order denying the right to automatic birthright citizenship in the country, news agency Reuters reported on Thursday. The judge called the order "blatantly unconstitutional".

“I’ve been on the bench for over four decades. I can’t remember another case where the question presented was as clear as this one is,” the AP quoted John Coughenour, the federal judge hearing the case, as saying. “This is a blatantly unconstitutional order.”

On January 21, shortly after being sworn in as the US president, Trump signed a series of executive orders, including one to stop automatically granting citizenship to those born in the US in specific scenarios.

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The order has prompted five lawsuits from civil rights organizations and Democratic attorneys general representing 22 states, who describe it as a blatant breach of the U.S. Constitution.

"Under this order, babies being born today don't count as U.S. citizens," Washington Assistant Attorney General Lane Polozola told Senior U.S. District Judge John Coughenour at the start of a hearing in Seattle.

During the hearing, Washington Assistant Attorney General Lane Polozola emphasized the immediate impact of the order, warning that under Trump’s policy, “babies being born today don’t count as US citizens.”

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Polozola and other state officials argued that the order would strip basic rights from more than 150,000 newborns annually, leaving them without Social Security numbers, government benefits, or legal employment opportunities as they grow older.

The administration argues that birthright citizenship incentivizes illegal immigration and places a strain on public resources. In defending the order, the Justice Department described it as an “integral part” of Trump’s efforts to reform the US immigration system and address the crisis at the southern border.

Shumate, the Justice Department lawyer, called the ruling to block the order “wildly inappropriate” and maintained that the executive order was a necessary measure to fix what the administration views as a broken immigration system.

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