The United States Supreme Court on Thursday heard President Donald Trump’s case curtailing the birthright citizenship to children born in the United States to parents who are in the country either illegally or temporarily. Trump made an executive order in accordance with his larger campaign of curbing immigration into the country with the case questioning whether lower court judges have the power to block presidential orders for the whole nation, like it happened in this case.
The order was issued in January pertaining to the Citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment that grants US citizenship to every child born on US soil. The order was opposed and challenged in several states with Federal judges in Maryland, Washington, and Massachusetts blocking the order due to its “unconstitutionality”.
While arguing the case, the US Solicitor General General D John Sauer asserted that the lower courts had overstepped their authority by blocking the order whereas the New York Solicitor General Jeremy Feigenbaum arguing for several states said that the order would create a patchwork system of citizenship and would also create chaos on the ground.
Saur asked for a class-action lawsuit that would club all the plaintiffs into one, however, the idea was rejected by the justices as it was time consuming and did not provide relief in emergency circumstances.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson criticised the order stating that it could transform the regime into a “catch me if you can” system where government overreach can be prevented only by suing. Justice Sonia Sotomayor asserted that the action could render several newborns stateless.
According to the plaintiffs who challenged the order, around 1,50,000 new born children would be denied their citizenship annually if the order takes effect, as reported by Reuters.
