On Friday, June 27, the US Supreme Court limited the power of federal judges: They will no longer be able to suspend the application of executive orders through "universal injunctions." The case concerned an executive order abolishing birthright citizenship, in violation of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Many legal challenges had been brought against the executive order, not only by 22 states, but also by migrant advocacy groups and several pregnant mothers who sought to protect the rights of their unborn children.
Anne Deysine, a legal expert and American studies specialist, emeritus professor at the University of Nanterre, says in an interview that the US Supreme Court's decision will lead to chaos and threaten civil liberties.
Is the Supreme Court's decision a political one?
It is certainly political. If the Trump administration requested the Supreme Court intervene urgently, it was not because it was seeking to defend the legality of the executive order ending automatic citizenship for any child born on US soil, but to ask the court to suspend so-called "universal" injunctions issued by federal judges in lower courts and upheld on appeal. Yet when many executive orders issued by the Biden administration – such as those mandating vaccinations, for example – were also suspended using the same type of universal injunctions, the court did nothing.
In the May 15 hearing, the right-wing justices, through their questions, made their hostility toward these injunctions clear, as the injunctions don't just apply to the plaintiffs and parties involved in the case, but also to anyone whose rights may be infringed. Nevertheless, in the case of the executive order on birthright citizenship, a universal injunction was justified because it prevented chaos and the emergence of different situations in different states. Which will now happen.
What are the concrete consequences of this decision for birthright citizenship?
The executive order states that children born to parents without a valid permanent resident permit (known as a green card) or without US citizenship do not become US citizens at birth, a violation of the cases explicitly provided for by the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, the Nationality Act of 1940, and the Supreme Court's own precedents. In the 1898 case United States v. Wong Kim Ark, the court held that, even if a child's parents were "subjects of the Emperor of China," a child born in the US is an American citizen.
You have 63.88% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.