A federal appeals court has used the words of a conservative Supreme Court justice to sharply rebuke President Donald Trump’s birthright citizenship plans.
Why It Matters
Trump is seeking to stop automatic citizenship for any child born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants. Ending birthright citizenship was a campaign pledge when he was running in the 2024 presidential election.
The Court of Appeals has signaled that it will not be pressured or rushed into making a decision on a case that has huge implications for U.S. constitutional law.
By using the words of Trump-nominated Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, the appeals court is making it more difficult for Trump to overturn the court’s decision.
What To Know
After a Seattle court stayed Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship, the Justice Department asked the three-judge 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to hear an appeal on an expedited basis.
On February 19, the appeals court criticized the Justice Department for trying to rush a decision. It noted Gorsuch’s words in TikTok Inc. v. Garland, in which the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in January 2025 on whether to force the sale of the Chinese social media company TikTok.
The Supreme Court heard the TikTok case on an expedited basis, given the urgency of the issues involved. The Appeal Court noted that the Supreme Court said that judges “should be particularly cautious in cases heard on an expedited basis.”
The Appeals Court also noted Gorsuch’s complaint in TikTok that “given just a handful of days after oral argument to issue an opinion, I cannot profess the kind of certainty I would like to have about the arguments and record before us.”
Making its own observations, the Appeals Court said: “Deciding important substantive issues on one week’s notice turns our usual decision-making process on its head. We should not undertake this task unless the circumstances dictate that we must. They do not here.
“We usually take more time and for good reason: our duty is to ‘act responsibly,’ not dole out ‘justice on the fly,'” it added, quoting from the case of East Bay Sanctuary Covenant v. Biden in which an immigration center was challenging Biden’s new laws on asylum seekers.
Newsweek sought email comment from the Justice Department on Thursday.
What People Are Saying
Bennett Gershman, professor of law at Pace University, told Newsweek: “Trump’s executive order seeking to outlaw so-called birthright citizenship is itself unlawful and will be easily struck down. Mr. Trump may not like the constitutional rule. But however much he would like to, he does not have the power to flout the Constitution.”
What Happens Next
The appeals court said it will hear the case, but not on an expedited basis and “the existing briefing schedule remains in effect.” It said the court clerk will fix a court date for some time in June.
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