[Ilya Somin] First Circuit Rules Trump's Birthright Citizenship Executive Order is Unconstitutional

I would add, as I have noted previously (e.g. here and here), that virtually all the government's arguments for denying birthright citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants and those on temporary visas would also have denied it to numerous slaves freed as a result of the Civil War and the Thirteenth Amendment. I also think the ruling is sound in concluding that the state government plaintiffs in the case have standing to sue (though, admittedly, the Supreme Court's precedents on state standing are far from a model of clarity), and in suggesting that "complete relief" for their injuries requires a nationwide injunction (though it ultimately remanded this issue to the district court for further consideration). Both the substantive birthright citizenship issue and the procedural issue of the proper scope of injunctions are likely to return to the Supreme Court.

Author: Ilya Somin

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