A federal appeals court has struck down former President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at limiting birthright citizenship, declaring it unconstitutional.
The ruling was handed down by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which upheld an earlier decision by U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour in Seattle.
The court blocked the enforcement of the executive order, which sought to deny U.S. citizenship to children born in the country to parents who are undocumented or temporary visitors.
In a 2-1 decision, the three-judge panel said the order violated the U.S. Constitution, particularly the 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause, which grants citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil and subject to its jurisdiction.
“The district court correctly concluded that the Executive Order’s proposed interpretation, denying citizenship to many persons born in the United States, is unconstitutional. We fully agree,” the majority opinion read.
