On July 23 the three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled 2-1 that President Trump’s Executive Order 14160 to ban “birthright citizenship” was unconstitutional by reason of its violating the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment. The opinion affirmed the July 10 lower federal district court ruling which blocked enforcement of the ban. At the time of the latest ruling, there were already two federal injunctions against the birthright ban.
The opinion stated: “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.” Washington state Attorney General Nick Brown posted on X, “The court agrees that the president cannot redefine what it means to be American with the stroke of a pen. He cannot strip away the rights, liberties, and protections of children born in our country.”
