Donald Trump signs an executive order on Jan. 20, 2025, aimed at ending birthright citizenship in the U.S. (Forbes).
A federal judge has forcefully rejected Trump administration efforts to undo the nation’s constitutional grant of birthright citizenship.
In a Seattle courtroom late Thursday morning, Ronald Reagan-appointed U.S. District Judge John Coughenour issued a nationwide injunction from the bench prohibiting the government from enforcing the executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Jan. 20.
The judge had sharp words for the effort to do away with the long-established constitutional right — an effort that has itself become sharply divisive.
“It has become ever more apparent that to our president, the rule of law is but an impediment to his policy goals,” Coughenour intoned. “The rule of law, according to him, is something to navigate around or simply ignore.”
The judge went on to excoriate the 45th and 47th president for trying to evade the law in both political and personal matters. Then, he lectured further on the rule of law.
“Nevertheless, in this courtroom, and under my watch, the rule of law is a bright beacon which I intend to follow,” Coughenour continued. “I said this two weeks ago and I’ll say it again today. There are moments in the world’s history when people look back and ask: ‘Where were the lawyers? Where were the judges?’ In these moments the rule of law becomes especially vulnerable.”
On Jan. 23, the judge, based in the Western U.S. District of Washington, issued a 14-day temporary restraining order prohibiting the Trump administration from taking any steps in furtherance of the ban on birthright citizenship — after calling the executive order “blatantly unconstitutional.”
Thursday’s ruling maintains the ban on Trump’s decree.
During a relatively brief hearing, two attorneys for four plaintiff states argued their case against the Trump administration while the government had one attorney try to defend what would be a sea change in the American political system.
In the end, Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon prevailed.
Just before signing the injunction — and audibly announcing the his signature — the court got to the heart of the matter.
“Birthright citizenship is a fundamental constitutional right,” Coughenour said. “The 14th Amendment secures the blessings of liberty to our posterity by bestowing on all those born in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction the right of citizenship. We are all citizens subject to the rule of law. No amount of policy debate can change that.”
The judge said the government is attempting to issue “a constitutional amendment under the guise of an executive order” and said that effort “is equally unconstitutional.”
Under the 14th Amendment, in real terms, all persons born in the United States except for the children of foreign diplomats are automatically granted citizenship. In recent years, wide swathes of political conservatives have made this constitutional protection a target.
On Thursday, the court took stock of these trends through the prism of the present Trump effort.
“The constitution is not something with which the government can play policy games,” Coughenour said. “If the government wants to change the exceptional American grant of birthright citizenship, it needs to amend the Constitution itself. That’s how our constitution works. And that’s how the rule of law works. Because the president’s order attempts to circumscribe this process, it is clearly unconstitutional. The preliminary injunction is granted on a nationwide basis.”
