Friday, January 24, 2025 - U.S. District Judge, John C. Coughenour issued a ruling on Thursday, January 23, temporarily blocking President Trump's executive order that aimed to end birthright citizenship for children born to migrants in the U.S. temporarily or without legal status.
Coughenour issued the temporary restraining order after a hearing in
Seattle.
The judge signed the temporary restraining order in response to a
lawsuit brought by Oregon, Arizona, Illinois, and Washington state, one of
several suits opposing the administration's effort to curb the right of
citizenship for anyone born on U.S. soil.
In the courtroom in downtown Seattle, Coughenour interrupted the
attorney for the Justice Department, Brett Schumate, to tell him how
unconstitutional he thinks the administration's order is.
"I've been on the bench for four decades, I can't remember another
case where the question presented is as clear as this one is," Coughenour
said, describing Trump's order as "blatantly unconstitutional."
"There are other times in world history where we look back and
people of goodwill can say, 'Where were the judges? Where were the
lawyers?'" the judge said, according to KUOW News.
The judge's order blocks federal agencies from implementing the
executive order, signed by Trump on Monday, while the case is under review
Reacting to the order, Washington State Attorney General, Nick Brown,
said: "This is step one. "But to hear the judge from the bench say
that in his 40 years as a judge, he has never seen something so blatantly
unconstitutional sets the tone for the seriousness of this effort."
Brown is among 22 Democratic state AGs who have joined lawsuits to block
the executive order.
The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution grants full citizenship
to all persons "born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to
the jurisdiction thereof."
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