The Supreme Court issued a 6-3 ruling along the ideological boundaries on Friday, allowing President Trump’s executive order to restrict the enforcement of birthright citizenship in some parts of the country.
Having ruled that three federal district judges had gone too far to issuing a national injunction against Trump’s order, the High Court’s decision boosted the key tools plaintiffs used to hamper the president’s agenda in dozens of cases.
“These injunctions, known as ‘universal injunctions,’ are likely to exceed the fair powers Congress has granted to federal courts,” Judge Amy Coney Barrett wrote for six Republican-appointed judges in the court.
However, whether Trump’s restrictions on birthrights are constitutional has not yet been resolved crucially.
For now, the judge has narrowed down lower court rulings to block Trump’s orders that apply to 22 democratically-led states, pregnant mothers and lawsuit immigration groups.
The Trump administration can now resume development of guidance to implement the order, but will have to wait 30 days before attempting to deny citizenship to anyone.
However, the majority have kept the door open to seek wider relief by bringing a class action lawsuit.
Contesting, three Democrat-appointed judges in the court condemned the management of “gamemanship” and accused his colleagues of “embarrassing” playing with them.
“In the new legal regime created by the courts, there is no safe right,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor joined Justice Elena Kagan and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
“Today, the threat is birthright citizenship. Tomorrow, another administration can try to seize firearms from law-abiding citizens or prevent people of certain faiths from gathering at worship,” Sotomayor continued.
She read out their dissenting opinions aloud from the bench where judges protect only a few cases for each term of office, to express their deep differences.
Signed on the first day of his inauguration, Trump’s orders curb birthright citizenship for children born in US soils if at least one parent does not have permanent legal status. The drastic restrictions raise the traditional understanding of the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment.
All courts directly confronting the legality of Trump’s order so far have found it likely to be unconstitutional. The administration went to the Supreme Court in emergency facilities to narrow down national injunctions issued by federal judges in Greenbelt, Maryland, Seattle and Boston.
The case will return to lower court for further litigation as Trump’s orders are partially enacted. The parties can return the case to the judge once the Court of Appeal issues a final judgment.
In a rare move, the High Court agreed to hear oral arguments in the case, despite processing emergency applications based on a round of written briefings. The discussion took place in May. This is a special session scheduled after the regular window that ended in April.
The Trump administration has been wary of dozens of national injunctions imposed by judges since his inauguration, and a sharp rise that the Justice Department claims is showing an overreach of justice that violates Trump’s authority.
But Trump critics pushed back, saying the shattering of the court’s injunction reflects the president’s lawless behavior in birthright citizenship and other areas.
Updated at 10:20am
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