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Trump Birthright E.O. Unconstitutional: 9th Circuit [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-07-24
On July 23, in Washington v. Trump , a split U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit panel dealt Trump a stinging setback by upholding the district court’s nationwide injunction that blocked his January 20, 2025, Executive Order (E.O.) 14160 entitled "Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship", which attempted to place multiple restrictions on birthright citizenship in the United States. See cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/…
This is a big victory. For the first time, a federal appeals court has weighed in on the merits of Trump’s E.O. and they confirmed the district court’s ruling that it violates the U.S. Constitution.
The case was initially brought on January 23 in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington by the states of Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon. On February 6, finding that the E.O. likely violated the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, a preliminary injunction was issued blocking enforcement. On February 19, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit declined to lift that injunction on an emergency basis. The U.S. government appealed this ruling, alongside two others, to the U.S. Supreme Court in Trump v. CASA .
On June 27, 2025, in Trump v. CASA , the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6–3 that universal injunctions exceed the judiciary power unless necessary to provide the formal plaintiff with "complete relief".
This was definitely a downer. And a precedent that will likely reverberate across other areas of law.
However, as the Ninth Circuit noted in its July 23 decision, while:
[t]he Supreme Court [in CASA] accepted review on the scope of the injunction and held that the universal scope of the injunction was impermissible insofar as it was based on individual and associational plaintiff standing, [it left]...open the question whether the universal injunction may be justified in order to give complete relief to the appellee States.” (emphasis mine).
Taking up the challenge, the guts of the July 23 decision by the 9th Circuit: a) affirms the Constitutional violation found by the lower court and b) agrees with the claims of the states they would suffer damage from enforcement of the E.O. This damage would comprise:
..an economic injury by defunding and requiring substantial changes to existing public programs such as Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Title IV-E foster care, and Social Security Act (SSA)’s Enumeration at Birth program. States generally do not receive federal reimbursements based on services to individuals who do not have a lawful, qualifying immigration status. The States accordingly allege that they will lose millions of dollars of contracted reimbursements that they would otherwise receive.
The 9th Circuit noted that, since Trump v Casa was decided, a New Hampshire court has certified a class action (an avenue left open by the Casa ruling). The 9th Circuit declined to address that aspect. Or individual claims. They limited themselves to the impact on the plaintiff states.
This legal saga is of course far from over.
Trump’s DOJ will likely appeal again to the Supreme Court. The Casa Court did not rule on the core issue of Constitutionality. The Supremes may decide to take up review but once again limit themselves to jurisdictional issues. Or they can wade in whole hog and decide the Constitutional question.
So, it remains white knuckle time for those who belief that birthright citizenship is a fundamental Constitutional principle.
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