This story was originally published on MyNorthwest.com
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Thursday on former President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship.
The order, which would deny citizenship to children born after Feb. 19 if their parents are in the country illegally, is currently on hold as lawsuits in three states—including Washington—move through the courts.
Former Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna said the justices are not expected to rule definitively on birthright citizenship at this stage. Instead, he said Thursday’s hearing will likely focus on one key question.
“Are they going to keep Trump’s order on hold nationwide, or will they limit the effect of the injunction to just the parties to these lawsuits?” former Washington state Attorney General Rob McKenna said on Seattle’s Morning News.
McKenna noted that at least four conservative justices have questioned the legality of universal injunctions, but he emphasized that the states opposing the Trump order argue there is no irreparable harm in maintaining birthright citizenship.
“The plaintiff states are arguing, ‘There’s no irreparable harm here,’” McKenna said. “‘Let’s let this underlying constitutional question be litigated all the way through the courts and then actually up to the Supreme Court.’”
The Justice Department argues that individual judges lack the power to give nationwide effect to their rulings.
Trump administration made similar argument before
The Trump administration made a similar argument during Trump’s first term, including in the Supreme Court fight over his ban on travel to the U.S. from several Muslim-majority countries. The court eventually upheld Trump’s policy but did not take up the issue of nationwide injunctions.
The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to allow restrictions on birthright citizenship to partly take effect while legal fights play out.
In emergency applications filed at the high court in April, the administration asked the justices to narrow court orders entered by district judges in Maryland, Massachusetts, and Washington that blocked the order President Donald Trump signed shortly after beginning his second term.
The order, which is currently blocked nationwide, would deny citizenship to those born after Feb. 19 whose parents are in the country illegally. It also forbids U.S. agencies from issuing any document or accepting any state document recognizing citizenship for such children.
Roughly two dozen states have sued over the executive order, arguing that it violates the Constitution’s 14th Amendment promise of citizenship to anyone born inside the United States.
Contributing: The Associated Press; Frank Lenzi, KIRO Newsradio
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