January 23, 2025 4:36 pm

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Seattle judge blocks Trump’s birthright citizenship ban giving new AG Brown a first win

SEATTLE—Judge John Coughenour, of the U.S. District Court for Western District of Washington and Ronald Reagan appointee, on Thursday, January 22, granted a temporary injunction request by Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown (D) against President Donald J Trump’s Executive Order on ending birthright citizenship, calling it “blatantly unconstitutional.”

nick brown
Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown speaking to reporters in Seattle about Judge John Coughenour’s decision granting a temporary injunction against President Donald J Trump’s EO on birthright citizenship. Photo courtesy of the Attorney General’s Office.

“The Court GRANTS the Plaintiff States’ emergency motion for a 14-day Temporary Restraining Order effective 11:00 AM on January 23, 2025,” Judge Coughenour wrote in his decision.

Washington State Attorney General Brown’s lawsuit was joined by the states of Oregon, Arizona, and Illinois. Other states across the nation filing similar lawsuits include New Jersey, California, Massachusetts, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin, as well as the District of Columbia.

“Trump’s birthright citizenship EO is halted for now,” Brown wrote on X. “Today a judge granted our temporary restraining order nationwide, saying he had not seen an order this blatantly unconstitutional in 40 years on the bench. We’ll continue fighting for Washingtonians’ freedoms.”

The Executive Order titled, “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship,” states that “no department or agency of the United States government shall issue documents recognizing United States citizenship, or accept documents issued by State, local, or other governments or authorities purporting to recognize United States citizenship” to persons born to a mother and father who are unlawfully in the United States or a mother who is lawfully in the US temporarily and whose father is not a lawful US citizen or permanent resident by the time of birth.

Birthright citizenship has been protected by the United States Constitution’s 14th Amendment since its adoption in 1868, where it states that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”

The right was enshrined in the Constitution following the Civil War when approximately four million enslaved people were left stateless. The 14th Amendment was intended to grant citizenship to former slaves after the 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the United States and its territories.

The country has upheld this right throughout history. For example, in the case of the United States v. Wong Kim Ark where the defendant was denied reentry into the United States, where he was born and obtained citizenship, after visiting his family in China. The U.S. Supreme Court, on this matter, argued that Wong Kim Ark indeed was a U.S. citizen by birthright under the “clear words and manifest intent” of the 14th Amendment.

This interpretation of the 14th Amendment, specifically surrounding words “subject to the jurisdiction” has been expanded to include all people born on U.S. soil and not only to the recently freed slaves after the passage of the 13th Amendment.

President Trump’s EO is an attempt to eventually have the U.S. Supreme Court revisit the 14th Amendment or for it to be repealed. However, to repeal an amendment, another amendment must be proposed and ratified.

The Article V of the U.S. Constitution requires that an amendment be proposed by two-thirds of the House and Senate, or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the state legislatures. The proposed amendment is ratified (becomes part of the U.S. Constitution) after at least three-quarters of the states vote to ratifying it.

Mario Lotmore
Author: Mario Lotmore

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