President Donald Trump speaks before Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is sworn in as HHS Secretary in the Oval Office, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington (Photo/Alex Brandon).
A federal judge appointed by President Donald Trump has scolded his administration and the Justice Department for dragging its feet in an ongoing birthright citizenship case, denying a request Wednesday for more time after firmly telling the DOJ that motions for extensions were “discouraged.”
“Defendants appear to have had access to the relevant pleadings — both in this case and in the other identified cases — for at least two months,” a minute order read from U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly on Wednesday. “And despite Defendants’ conclusory assertion of ‘good cause shown,’ they do not explain why they were unable to file any response to the Complaint — or the contemplated motion to stay — before the expiration of the current deadline,” the minute order said.
Kelly, appointed by Trump in 2017, noted the court’s standing order issued on Jan. 31, the day after the birthright citizenship case was first filed, outlining the rules and details of the ongoing proceedings. The order included specific guidelines about what would be required if the government wanted an extension.
Kelly said Wednesday that the DOJ followed none of them with its Monday motion for an extension.
“Paragraph 10 of the Court’s 6 Standing Order requires parties to submit extension motions ‘at least four days prior to the deadline at issue,”” his minute order said.
“If a party cannot comply with this four-day requirement, it shall explain why it cannot do so in its motion,” the standing order explained, adding that “such motions will be granted only upon motion and not upon stipulation of the parties” involved.
“Instead of being filed four days prior to the relevant deadline, Defendants’ Motion was filed only twenty minutes before their response to the Complaint was due,” Kelly’s Wednesday minute order said. “And Defendants’ Motion does not explain why Defendants failed to comply with the Court’s Standing Order. Thus, it is hereby ordered that Defendants’ Motion for Extension of Time is denied without prejudice.”
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Kelly noted the defendants in the case — Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, among others — may renew their motion moving forward, but they’ll have to show “good cause” for the requested extension and “explain why” they failed to comply with the court’s standing order.
Kelly gave the DOJ until Friday, April 11, to respond.
The birthright citizenship case and Jan. 30 complaint centers around Trump’s executive order from January that ultimately ended birthright citizenship in the U.S., which the plaintiffs say violates the Fourteenth Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act. The groups suing include Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC) and the Washington Lawyers’ Committee (WLC) for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs and they are representing OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates.
“The lawsuit maintains that the president lacks the authority to override the U.S. Constitution and define who should or should not be granted U.S. citizenship at birth — a guarantee enshrined in the Constitution since 1868,” OCA officials said in a press release announcing the litigation. “The lawsuit also highlights the history of the legal fight to affirm birthright citizenship, most notably by members of the Asian American community and in the landmark case of U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark.”
John C. Yang, president and executive director of AAJC, says an attack on birthright citizenship is “an attack on everyone born in the U.S.,” not just people in immigrant communities. “This is not the first time that Trump has shown complete disrespect for the U.S. Constitution and rule of law,” Yang blasted in January. “But the idea that any President believes he can dictate who is and is not an American by the flick of a pen, is not only wrong, it is dangerous.”
Attempts by Law&Crime to reach the DOJ for comment Thursday were unsuccessful.
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