The Department of Justice (DOJ) is appealing an order issued by a federal judge in Seattle blocking President Donald Trump’s order against birthright citizenship.
According to Judge John Coughenour’s February 6 order, the Trump administration “contends that whether a person born in the territorial United States is ‘subject to its jurisdiction’ ultimately turns on the legal status of the person’s parents and their allegiance to and domicile in this country. But the words ‘allegiance’ and ‘domicile’ do not appear in the Citizenship Clause, or anywhere in the Fourteenth Amendment, and nowhere in the text does it refer to a person’s parentage.”
“[S]o long as a person is born within a territory, then allegiance to that territory is a foregone conclusion,” Coughenour added. “In turn, that a child happens to be born to undocumented parents or parents with temporary status is irrelevant.”
The Trump DOJ has since filed an appeal.
Coughenour called the order “blatantly unconstitutional” in January.
Earlier this week, Judge Deborah Boardman of the U.S. District Court in Maryland ruled that Trump’s order violates the Constitution.
“Today, virtually every baby born on U.S. soil is a U.S. citizen upon birth,” Boardman said, as per Reuters. “That is the law and tradition of our country. That law and tradition are and will remain the status quo pending the resolution of this case.”
“The principle of birthright citizenship is a foundation of our national democracy, is woven throughout the laws of our nation, and has shaped a shared sense of national belonging for generation after generation of citizens,” the plaintiffs argued.
