Third federal appeals Court rejects Trump administration’s bid on birthright citizenship
Constitutional Law
Third federal appeals court rejects Trump administration bid on birthright citizenship
March 12, 2025, 12:05 pm CDT
The 1st U.S. The Circuit Court of Appeals at Boston, on Tuesday, refused to allow President Donald Trump’s order on birthright citizen to take effect. This court joined two other federal appeals that also ruled in the administration’s favor on this issue. (Image from Shutterstock)
The 1st U.S. The appeals court joined the 9th Circuit at San Francisco and the 4th Circuit at Richmond, Virginia in issuing similar rulings. The appeals court joined the 9th Circuit at San Francisco and the 4th Circuit at Richmond, Virginia, which issued similar rulings.
Law360, Reuters, the Associated Press and the Volokh Conspiracy covered the March 11 decision.
Trump’s Jan. 20 order bans birthright citizenship when a mother is in the country illegally or temporarily and when a father was not a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident at the time.
U.S. District Judge Leo T. Sorokin of District of Massachusetts granted a preliminary order to 18 states who challenged the order. He found that they would likely succeed in their argument claiming that it violated citizenship clause of 14th Amendment. The District of Columbia and San Francisco were also plaintiffs.
On appeal, U.S. Department of Justice lawyers did not “make any developed argument” that the government was likely to succeed in showing that Trump’s order was constitutional, the 1st Circuit said. Instead, lawyers claimed that the plaintiffs did not have standing.
The states had countered that they had standing because the order would result in a loss of federal funds for health care, special needs education, child welfare and applications for Social Security numbers.
The 1st Circuit sided with the states, finding that the government had not made the strong showing needed to overcome state arguments.
1st Circuit Chief Judge David J. Barron, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, wrote the opinion in the case, New Jersey v. Trump.
New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin applauded the decision in a statement cited by Law360.
“Every court to consider President Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship by executive order has found it is flagrantly unconstitutional, and every appellate court has rejected DOJ’s effort to put his order back in place,” Platkin said. New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin applauded the decision in a statement cited by Law360.
“Every court that has considered President Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship by executive order has found it flagrantly unconstitutional, and every appellate court has rejected DOJ’s effort to put his order back in place,” Platkin said.
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