"Blatantly unconstitutional." That's what U.S. District Judge John Coughenour called President Donald Trump's attempt to restrict birthright citizenship earlier this year. "I've been on the bench for over four decades. I can't remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one," the Reagan appointee said in blocking Trump's executive order. Other judges around the country followed suit.
And yet, the Supreme Court granted a rare hearing on the subject for today.
But the court isn't taking Trump's order head-on. The administration didn't ask it to. Rather, while litigation against the order proceeds in the lower courts, the federal government filed emergency applications to the justices, asking them to narrow the scope of nationwide injunctions blocking Trump's order in three cases. Instead of deciding, as it usually does, whether to grant emergency relief based on the court papers alone, the court set today's hearing for after the term's normally scheduled arguments wrapped up last month.
This is a preview of Jordan Rubin's latest column. Read the full column here. |
