DOJ presses federal appeals court to reverse ruling blocking Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship

The Justice Department on Wednesday pressed a federal appeals court to reverse a judge’s ruling that blocked nationwide President Donald Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship.

The Justice Department on Wednesday pressed a federal appeals court to reverse a judge’s ruling that blocked nationwide President Donald Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship. The hearing before a three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals represents the first time one of the nation’s intermediate courts has heard oral arguments over the constitutionality of the controversial policy, which was blocked by several courts earlier this year before it could take effect. The hourlong hearing unfolded at a courthouse in Seattle comes as the Supreme Court is considering whether it should modify the lower-court injunctions so that Trump can begin partially enforcing the policy while the legal challenges are resolved. “Our position is very firmly grounded in text, history and precedent. But I do want to be clear that the 14th Amendment Citizenship Clause sets a floor for birthright citizenship and not a ceiling, so there’s nothing in our position that would prevent Congress – if it saw fit and on the terms it saw fit – from granting citizenship to the children of foreigners who are in the country temporarily or unlawfully,” DOJ attorney Eric Dean McArthur told the court. Some of the discussion on Wednesday concerned whether the appeals court should also narrow the reach of the ruling issued in February by US District Judge John Coughenour, with McArthur struggling to answer some questions about how the policy would apply to certain groups of immigrants – like asylum seekers – because officials haven’t been able to craft guidance implementing Trump’s executive order due to the series of court orders. “One of the problems with the injunction is that it enjoined the government from even explaining how this order would be implemented,” McArthur said at one point. “So, how the executive order, if and when it is allowed to take effect, would apply to various categories like asylees, like refugees, is not clear at this point.”