The government of President Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court in a series of emergency appeals on Thursday (13) to allow him to move forward with plans to end birthright citizenship.
The Trump administration argues that lower courts went too far in issuing nationwide injunctions blocking the controversial policy, and asked the higher judges to limit the impact of those orders.
In January, a federal judge described Trump’s executive order as “flagrantly unconstitutional” and blocked its implementation. Days later, a judge in Maryland said that Trump’s plan “contradicts 250 years of birthright citizenship history in our nation.”
Appeals courts rejected the Trump administration’s request to suspend the lower court decisions.
For more than 150 years, courts have understood that the text of the 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to anyone “born or naturalized in the United States,” regardless of their parents’ immigration status.
But some conservatives argue that this interpretation is wrong because the 14th Amendment includes a phrase that the benefit applies only to people who are “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States. Immigrants in the country illegally, supporters of the measure believe, are subject to the jurisdiction of their homeland.
Courts in Maryland, Massachusetts, and Washington issued injunctions blocking the implementation of the measure at the request of more than 20 states, two immigrant rights groups, and seven individual plaintiffs.
Trump’s appeals to the Supreme Court do not directly address the constitutionality of the measure but seek to limit the scope of the issued injunctions. This is, however, a significant request because if the Supreme Court agrees, it will allow the government to enforce its executive order against people not covered by the pending litigation.
The Supreme Court is likely to set a briefing schedule that will require those challenging the Trump administration to respond quickly, possibly within a few days.
Source: CNN