9th Circuit Upholds Nationwide Block on Trump Birthright Citizenship Order

A federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled that President Donald Trump's executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship is unconstitutional, affirming previous lower court decisions that blocked its enforcement nationwide. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the order violated the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment and upheld a nationwide injunction, agreeing that denying citizenship to children born in the U.S. to undocumented or temporary residents is unconstitutional. The ruling followed a district court's recognition of the affected children as a class and rejected the administration's interpretation as inconsistent with legal precedent and longstanding executive practice. The court majority, including judges appointed by President Bill Clinton, emphasized the constitutional protections enshrined in the 14th Amendment and criticized the executive order's legal reasoning as flawed. A dissenting opinion by a Trump-appointed judge warned that the majority's broad granting of standing to states could politicize the judiciary, but ultimately the injunction remains in place. The case edges closer to the Supreme Court after the high court recently limited lower courts' ability to issue nationwide injunctions, though it left open exceptions which applied here.