Donald Trump’s attempt to enact a constitutional right that has existed for more than a century was thwarted by a federal judge on Wednesday, which severely limits the president’s ability to do so.
One of Trump’s most contentious executive orders, which was scheduled to take effect on February 19 in the entire country, is now permanently prohibited by the ruling.
District Judge Deborah Boardman was reportedly quoted as saying during the hearing at a Maryland court that “the denial of the precious right to citizenship will cause irreparable harm.”
She noted that Supreme Court precedent protects birthright citizenship, adding that Trump’s order “conflicts with the plain language of the 14th Amendment”, the Washington Post reported.
“No court in the country has ever endorsed the president’s interpretation”, she said. “This court will not be the first”.
A federal judge in Washington state placed a 14-day suspension on Trump’s executive order in January.
There, US District Judge John Coughenour condemned the order as “blatantly unconstitutional”, though Trump quickly told reporters he planned to appeal the ruling.
The 14th Amendment, which states that anyone born on US soil is a citizen, enshrines birthright citizenship in the US Constitution.
Trump’s order was premised on the idea that anyone in the United States illegally, or on a visa, was not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the country, and therefore excluded from this category.
The 14th Amendment, which was ratified in 1868 as the United States recovered from the Civil War, has been in place for more than a century, according to his opponents.
They cite a US Supreme Court decision from 1898 in the case of a Chinese-American man named Wong Kim Ark, who was denied entry to the country on grounds that he was not a citizen.
Source: Channels TV
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