In a landmark 6-3 decision on Friday, the US Supreme Court ruled that federal district courts may not issue nationwide injunctions, a move that allows President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting birthright citizenship to go into effect in some parts of the country.
The ruling is not a final ruling on the constitutionality of Trump’s order, which challenges an interpretation of the 14th Amendment granting automatic citizenship to those born on US soil. Instead, the court curtailed the power of lower federal judges, saying they may only block enforcement of federal policies for plaintiffs directly involved in a lawsuit, not across the entire country.
The case originated from a coalition immigration advocacy groups who challenged Trump’s 2025 executive order that seeks to restrict automatic citizenship for children born in the US to illegal immigrants. Their legal action prompted a liberal federal judge to halt the policy nationwide, a move the high court found to be beyond a single judge’s authority.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett, writing for the majority, strongly rebuked Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s dissent, which had argued that the majority ruling “is an existential threat to the rule of law.” Jackson was so furious, she did not even sign her dissent with the usual “I dissent” or “respectfully, I dissent.”
Barrett wrote, “We will not dwell on Justice Jackson’s argument, which is at odds with more than two centuries’ worth of precedent, not to mention the Constitution itself. We observe only this: Justice Jackson decries an imperial Executive while embracing an imperial Judiciary.”
The decision means that Trump’s order can now be implemented in areas not covered by the current lawsuits — typically, states run by Democrats, who were part of the lawsuit. The administration must wait 30 days before denying any citizenship claims, giving time for further legal challenges or congressional action.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, also dissenting, warned the decision could lead to legal chaos and conflicting outcomes across different jurisdictions.
For now, Trump’s birthright citizenship order inches forward, although legal uncertainty remains, and further constitutional challenges are expected by advocacy groups and their legal teams.
Saving the day….good job SCOTUS.
Even a partial win is a victory in this slog.
I knew Jackson was an affirmative action hire, but damn: she is denser than Sotamayor. Something I didn’t think possible.
Jackson and Sotomayer are just stupid and want our great country to fall apart at the seams. This is what happens when the liberals push to let minorities into law practice, based soley on the left-wing agenda for affirmative action purposes. We end up with unqualified, stupid people trying to reinterpret well-established precedent. This is what we have with three of the SCt justices from Obama and Biden. It’s a wonder that these three were even accepted into law school, probably with poor LSAT scores, law school grade inflation, and questionable bar exam scores. Now we are stuck with some pretty rank justices, done who can’t even define the term “biological woman.”
My message about birthright citizenship: Kick their worthless a//// out of the country.
Be careful what you wish for. This ruling, that limits the scope of district court rulings, can just as easily be applied to items on the liberal agenda.
Good.
No justice below the Supreme Court level should have the ability to impose a national injunction, unless the case is brought about at a national level. And, not a lawyer here, but I think national level cases go to the SCOTUS. Willing to admit my ignorance on that front though.
.
Seriously, I do not care what side of the political aisle is bringing the case, no low level judge has the authority to impose a nationwide injunction. And, yes, I fully expect the leftists to take full advantage of it when they hold the White House again.
SCOTUS just took away the democrats’ main weapon for opposing the Trump agenda – activist judges issuing nationwide injunctions. Now all they can do is performative stunts.
Trump to all left-wing, radical activist federal judges:
.
EFF OFF!
The order is still being written since there were many parts to it. The article here as written is inaccurate. The decision on many points is still not complete but the issue of injunctions by those few courts is finished. The rest of the points and issues will be done. Birthright citizenship will be further explained since originally it was a protection for children of slaves after the Civil War ended in 1865, not having anything to do with citizenship of illegals today. Let’s all hope that as a tool for this country’s use, the US Constitution and explanation of the US Supreme Court will strengthen our country and its citizen’s no longer allowing it to be abused by derelict politicians or other countries.
Biden’s purely DEI appointment to the court is proving to be a true disaster – just like his VP was. Imagine what the Supreme Court’s closed-door case review meetings have become since she was added to the group. (Would it be as bad as having to tolerate Jasmine Crockett spew her hate and stupidity in House Committee hearings?) Barrett’s put-down of Brown is epic, and even more notable in that it was cosigned by the other 5 in the majority.
The conservatives have Trump, MAGA, both chambers of Congress, and the Supreme Court.
Marxist liberals have a few red cities and lefty wacko federal judges ……..lawfare as there only weapons. They are in panic mode. Without the media to cover them, the liberal agenda and Democrats are dying on the vine. Trump will try to kill off their remaining agenda.
When looking at previous SCOTUS decisions, the opinions rarely mention other justices by name. The terms will be “the dissenting opinion” or similar. It is rare, unless directly quoting the Justice, to name them.
.
However, in this instance, Justice Jackson’s logic and reasoning are so completely flawed, that the author of the Majority opinion named her specifically in the ruling. This is big.
I am so happy that this has passed!! There has always been liberal appointed Judges that have tried to overturn anything that Trump has tried to pass! And none of it made sense mostly because Democrats have NO common sense and as of lately they have only gotten worse and more evil!!
Apparently Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson really doesn’t understand much, here’s a montage of what she so frequently says while sitting on the highest bench in the land…
‘https://x.com/ComfortablySmug/status/1937935738408161304