A United States judge has temporarily blocked Trump’s order to change birthright citizenship, which is enshrined in the Constitution.
The judge says the order, which was slated to take effect on 19 January, was “blatantly unconstitutional”.
Among the executive orders President Donald Trump signed just hours after taking office as the 47th President of the United States of America, USA, was the one directing government agencies to stop issuing citizenship documentation for babies born in the US to parents without legal status.
Immigration advocacy groups have already gone to court. It is expected that more lawsuits will follow, given the controversial nature of the orders.
The order is titled “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship”.
‘Blatantly unconstitutional’
In Seattle, today, according to BBC, things did not go well for Trump’s lawyers during the brief hearing in Seattle.
Four states asked a judge to immediately block Trump’s attempt to deny the right to birthright citizenship to children born to undocumented migrants and people in the US temporarily.
Just as Justice Department lawyer, Brett Shumate, began his arguments on the validity of the order, Judge John Coughenour cut in, asking him point blank: “Is this order constitutional?”
The judge again interrupted as Shumate began to respond, saying: “This is a blatantly unconstitutional order.
“We look back in history and say ‘where were the judges, where were the lawyers?’”, the judge continued.
“Frankly, I have difficulty finding that a member of the bar can state confidently that this is a constitutional order.”
The “bar” refers to the American legal professional institution.
In Seattle, lawyers for the four states are now speaking to the press about the temporary block of Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship.
“This was fairly obvious. This was simple,” says Nicholas Brown the attorney general of Washington, speaking about the judge’s decision.
He says the nationwide block is just the first step, but predicts that it won’t be overturned by another court.
We are waiting to hear what the Trump administration’s next legal move will be.
