Birthright executive order blocked: Judge calls Donald Trump’s citizenship change ‘blatantly unconstitutional’
One of President Donald Trump’s most controversial executive orders, signed on inauguration day and set to come into effect in days, has been blocked by a US judge.
The republican president and his team had hinted around 100 executive orders would be signed within hours of taking office, with around actually being signed on inauguration day.
From renaming the Gulf of America, to forcing federal workers back into the office, Mr Trump made headlines as he signed in a sweep of orders, many based on campaign promises.
However, his hope to revoke birthright citizenship of those who are born in America without having US citizen parents has been challenged by a court, potentially delaying the February 19 change.
Birthrights in the US have meant that anyone born in the US is considered a US citizen. The right has been part of the Constitution since it was added with the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment in 1868.
Mr Trump’s change, in part, is designed to stop children of illegal aliens who have entered the country from being given US citizenship if they are born within the US.
Judge John Coughenour during court proceedings interrupted lawyers to blatantly ask: ““Is this order constitutional?”
As they replied, he again interrupted, 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.”
Judge Coughenour, after around just 20 minutes in court, ordered an injunction of Mr Trump’s executive order.
From here, the Trump administration are expect to return fire legally in hope of revoking Judge Coughenour’s block, likely looking at the interpretation of the specific wording in the constitution.
It is possible that the case could be escalated to the Supreme Court, where Republicans hold a majority.
More to come…
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