Birthright executive order blocked: Judge calls Donald Trump’s citizenship change ‘blatantly unconstitutional’

One of President Donald Trump’s most controversial executive orders, signed on inauguration day and set to come into effect in days, has been blocked by a US judge.

The Republican President and his team had hinted around 100 executive orders would be signed within hours of taking office, and he signed dozens into effect in a flurry of activity on inauguration day.

From renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, to forcing federal workers back into the office and axeing diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, Mr Trump made headlines as he signed a sweep of orders, getting the ball rolling on many of his campaign promises.

However, his hope to revoke birthright citizenship of those who are born in America to non-citizen parents has been blocked by a court in Seattle, potentially delaying the expected February 19 change.

Judge John Coughenour, an appointee of Republican former President Ronald Reagan, dealt the setback to Mr Trump’s order — which is part of a swathe of hard line immigration policies that are a centrepiece of his second presidential term.

Mr Trump’s executive order had directed US agencies to refuse to recognise the citizenship of children born in the States if neither their mother nor father were a US citizen or lawful, documented permanent residents.

During court proceedings on Thursday, local time, Judge Coughenour interrupted lawyers to ask: “Is this order constitutional?”

As they replied, he again interrupted, saying: “This is a blatantly unconstitutional order.”

“I am having trouble understanding how a member of the bar could state unequivocally that this order is constitutional,” he told a US Justice Department lawyer defending the order.

“It just boggles my mind.”

Birthrights in the US have meant that anyone born in the US is considered a US citizen. The right has been part of the US Constitution since it was added with the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment in 1868.

“We look back in history and say ‘where were the judges, where were the lawyers?’”, Judge Coughenour continued before making a decision.

After about 20 minutes in court, he ordered an injunction of the order.

From here, the Trump administration is expected to return fire legally in the hope of revoking Judge Coughenour’s block, likely looking at the interpretation of the specific wording in the Constitution.

It is possible that the case could be escalated to the Supreme Court, where Republican-appointed Justices hold a majority.