US supreme court justices on Thursday took issue with Donald Trump’s attempt to sidestep the constitution to limit birthright citizenship, in a trio of immigration cases that could reshape presidential power and the role of federal courts.
The cases before the court stem from the president’s January executive order that would deny US citizenship to babies born on American soil if their parents aren’t citizens or permanent residents. The plan is likely to be ultimately struck down, as it directly contradicts the 14th amendment, which grants citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States”.
But the court is mulling whether there is some weight to the justice department’s argument that “nationwide injunctions” often issued by federal judges unfairly tie the president’s hands. “These injunctions have reached epidemic proportions since the start of the Trump administration,” the department wrote in a March filing. The administration is asking for the scope of the injunctions to be narrowed, so they only apply to the people, organizations or states that sued.
