WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he would appeal a federal judge’s move to temporarily block Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship.
“Obviously, we’ll appeal it,” Trump told reporters at the Oval Office. “They put it before a certain judge in Seattle, I guess. Right? And there’s no surprises with that judge.”
U.S. District Judge John Coughenour of Seattle, who blocked the order on Thursday, blasted it as “blatantly unconstitutional.” He issued a restraining order preventing the Trump administration from carrying it out at the prompting of four Democratic-led states: Washington, Illinois, Arizona and Oregon.
Coughenour was appointed by Republican President Ronald Reagan.
Trump’s executive order would end automatic citizenship for U.S.-born children if neither their mother or father is U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident. He signed the order on Monday evening after he was sworn into office, and it was scheduled to go into effect after Feb. 19.
Many critics have argued that the executive order goes against the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which says that all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. are citizens.
The order has also become the subject of several lawsuits by civil rights groups and Democratic attorneys general from 22 states, who argue that it violates the Constitution.
