Overview

• A divided 2-1 panel ruled on July 24 that President Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship is unconstitutional and maintained a nationwide injunction against its enforcement.
• Judges Michael Hawkins and Ronald Gould concluded that a geographically limited injunction would impose the same harms on Democratic-led states’ benefit programs as no injunction at all.
• Judge Patrick Bumatay dissented on the basis that the plaintiff states lacked standing to seek a universal block and warned against exceeding judicial authority.
• The decision invokes the Supreme Court’s June ruling that curtailed broad nationwide injunctions but left open exceptions for class actions and state-based relief.
• The administration now faces the choice of seeking an en banc rehearing or appealing directly to the Supreme Court amid at least nine related lawsuits.