U.S. judge blocks Trump's effort to end birthright citizenship via executive order, saying it "boggles" his mind that a member of the bar signed off on the order

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A federal judge has blocked Donald Trump's attempt to rewrite decades of U.S. law by overturning the right to birthright citizenship, which is embedded in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The New York Times (NYT) reports:

A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked President Trump’s executive order to end automatic citizenship for babies born on American soil, dealing the president his first setback as he attempts to upend the nation’s immigration laws and reverse decades of precedent.

In a hearing held three days after Mr. Trump issued his executive order, a Federal District Court judge, John C. Coughenour, sided with Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon, the four states that sued, signing a restraining order that blocks Mr. Trump’s executive order for 14 days, renewable upon expiration. “This is a blatantly unconstitutional order,” he said.

“Frankly,” he continued, challenging Trump administration lawyers, “I have difficulty understanding how a member of the bar would state unequivocally that this is a constitutional order. It just boggles my mind.”

Mr. Trump responded hours later, telling reporters at the White House, “Obviously we’ll appeal it.”

Attempting to rewrite the constitution via an executive order is so obviously unlawful one might wonder why Trump tried it. Is this a sign that Trump has little use for the rule of law, that he is an idealogue taking marching orders from Project 2025? Are many of his executive orders mostly for show, with little regard to whether they can hold up under scrutiny of a court.?The birthright citizenship order did not come close to holding up. From the NYT report: 

The president’s order, one of several issued in the opening hours of his presidency to curtail immigration, both legal and illegal, declared that children born in the United States to undocumented immigrants after Feb. 19 would no longer be treated as citizens. The order would also extend to babies born to mothers who are in the country legally but temporarily, such as tourists, university students or temporary workers, if the father is a non-citizen.

In response, 22 states, along with activist groups and expectant mothers, filed six lawsuits to halt the executive order, arguing that it violates the 14th Amendment. Legal precedent has long interpreted the amendment — that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States” — applies to every baby born in the United States, with a few limited exceptions: Children of accredited foreign diplomats; children born to noncitizens on U.S. territory occupied by an invading army; and, for a time, children born to Native Americans on reservations.

The courts have never recognized the constitutional legitimacy of further limitations on birthright citizenship, and Judge Coughenour of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington did not appear eager to break with that pattern on Thursday.

Trump has engaged in a losing legal battle, which could accomplish nothing for the American people -- unless you consider wasting time and money to be accomplishments. From NYT: 

Judge Coughenour’s order marks the beginning of what will almost certainly be a long battle between the new administration and the courts over Mr. Trump’s ambitious second-term agenda, which seeks to transform American institutions in ways that could be interpreted as running afoul of law and precedent. Other orders, including attempts to strip job protections from career federal employees and accelerate deportations, are also facing court challenges.

Brett Shumate, a lawyer for the federal government, said the administration’s order on birthright citizenship was “absolutely” constitutional. He argued on behalf of the Trump administration that undocumented immigrants “remain subject to a foreign power” and therefore “have no allegiance to the United States.” Nor, the government argued in a filing, would their American-born children.

After the ruling, a Justice Department spokesman promised that the department “will vigorously defend” Mr. Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship before the courts and “the American people, who are desperate to see our nation’s laws enforced.”

The 14th Amendment refers to people who are “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States. The judge asked the government whether undocumented immigrants’ children who committed a crime would be subject to U.S. law. Mr. Shumate responded that they would be “subject to the jurisdiction with respect to the laws of this country, but not with respect to the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment.”

“Citizenship is different,” Mr. Shumate said.

To that, Judge Coughenour’s decision was emphatic: “I’ve been on the bench for over four decades,” he said. “This is a blatantly unconstitutional order. Where were the lawyers when this decision was being made?”

In the case before Judge Coughenour, who was nominated to the bench by President Ronald Reagan, the four state attorneys general argued that Mr. Trump’s order would deny rights and benefits to more than 150,000 children born each year and leave some of them stateless. States would also lose federal funding for various assistance programs. 

The states’ 32-page complaint cited testimony from former Assistant Attorney General Walter Dellinger. In 1995, Mr. Dellinger told Congress that a law limiting birthright citizenship would be “unconstitutional on its face” and that even a constitutional amendment would “flatly contradict the nation’s constitutional history and constitutional traditions.”

Federal government lawyers in the hearing pleaded for more time, saying a delay in ruling would make little difference since the executive order would not take effect until next month. The states responded that the administration’s order created an immediate burden for them, requiring them to alter systems that determine eligibility for federal-backed programs, and that the status of babies born to undocumented mothers in the meantime would be unclear. A report from politicus.usa.com and CNN provides more insight on the matter: “I have been on the bench for over four decades. I can’t remember another case whether the question presented was as clear,” Coughenour said.“Where were the lawyers” when the decision to sign the executive order was made, the judge asked. He said it “boggled” his mind that a member of the bar would claim the order was constitutional. The judge appears to have assumed that any of the legal advisors around Trump would dare to tell him that his order was illegal and that even if

they did, Trump would listen. The birthright citizenship executive order won’t be taking effect. It will work its way through the court system until finally, even this Supreme Court will reject the idea that any president has the power to edit the Constitution with an executive order.

The fact that the executive order was issued at all demonstrated that Trump has what he wanted. There are no guardrails in his second administration. There is no one who will tell him no, no matter how stupid, illegal, or unconstitutional his actions are.

That is a much bigger problem for the country than any executive order that anyone who knows the basics about our system of government understood would be shot down.

There seems to be no one in Trump’s orbit who is willing to put the country first.