A federal appeals court has declared former President Donald Trump’s executive order, aimed at ending birthright citizenship for children born to undocumented or non-permanent resident parents, unconstitutional, reinforcing a nationwide injunction against its implementation.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2–1 decision, upheld a district court’s determination that the order conflicts with the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment.
That clause grants U.S. citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof”
Judge Ronald Gould, writing for the majority alongside Judge Michael Hawkins, emphasized that only Congress- not a president- can alter constitutional birthright guarantees.
He noted that a broad injunction was necessary to ensure complete relief for states like Washington, Arizona, Illinois, and Oregon which had collectively sued to block the order due to their reliance on stable citizenship rules
Judge Patrick Bumatay, the lone dissenting voice and a Trump appointee, argued the states lacked legal standing to bring the case and criticized the use of universal injunctions as judicial overreach
This is the first appellate court to rule on the executive order itself, following lower court blocks.
The case is expected to advance to the Supreme Court, which in June limited lower courts’ authority in issuing nationwide injunctions, but confirmed that such blocks remain necessary in some cases
As of now, Trump’s executive order remains barred from enforcement nationwide.
The Supreme Court is anticipated to make the definitive legal ruling, clarifying both the scope of executive authority and the limits of judicial injunctions in the near future.
