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AG Tong: "The fight is far from over."
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down on Friday a nationwide injunction against the Trump administration’s elimination of birthright citizenship — handing the country what Connecticut Attorney General William Tong described as “an unworkable mess that will leave thousands of babies in an untenable legal limbo.”
Tong slammed the high court’s decision in a Friday afternoon email press release.
He was responding to the Supreme Court’s 6 – 3 decision in a case centering on President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship for the U.S.-born children of undocumented parents and of some parents who were here lawfully and temporarily on student, work, or tourist visas. Critics like Tong have long called this order out as a clear violation of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
Friday’s Supreme Court decision doesn’t weigh in on the substantive merits of Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship. Instead, it stated that district court judges could not place nationwide freezes on the president’s policies. The justices also put a 30-day pause on Trump’s birthright citizenship-ending order from taking effect.
In his Friday press release, Tong lamented the chaos-causing consequences of Trump’s order and the Supreme Court’s national-injunction-overturning decision.
“Let’s be very clear — there is an injunction in place in Connecticut right now, and a continuation of the nationwide pause everywhere for the next 30 days that preserves birthright citizenship and protects Connecticut families,” Tong said. “But this deeply disappointing decision is a massive punt by the Supreme Court that creates needless chaos for families and babies across the country, and is a troubling signal of even worse to come from this court. There is just no legitimate legal debate on the meaning of the 14th Amendment. If you are born on American soil, you are an American.”
He continued: “Today’s decision does not address the constitutionality of birthright citizenship, but rather whether the lower courts could impose a nationwide injunction pausing the President’s attack while the legal challenges continue. The question now is what happens after these 30 days, and to the babies of families who have not sued, or do not live in states like Connecticut who are fighting back.”
Will babies born in Connecticut have different citizenship rights than those in Texas or Florida? Tong asked. What about babies born in Connecticut who travel out of state?
“This fight is far from over,” Tong concluded, “and we will continue to press our case to defend the American dream and the essential character of our nation.”
In a separate press release Friday, New Haven State Sen. and President Pro Tem Martin Looney joined Norwalk State Sen. and Majority Leader Bob Duff in lambasting the court’s decision.
“It is profoundly troubling to see the United States Supreme Court shrink from the responsibility of upholding the clear constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship, while also restricting the authority of federal judges to issue national injunctions,” they said. “In a single decision, the Court turned a blind eye to the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine a right explicitly stated in the 14th Amendment and dismantled an important mechanism for challenging unconstitutional government actions in federal court.
“While this ruling directly threatens one constitutional protection, its implications could extend far beyond, putting at risk rights Americans have long considered settled. When the Court turns its back on such foundational principles, it raises serious questions about its commitment to the rights and values it exists to protect.”
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal added his own words of warning in a separate press release sent out Friday afternoon: “This decision leaves families across the country in a state of fear and uncertainty about the future of their children. The Supreme Court has chipped away at two bedrock constitutional principles: the guarantee of birthright citizenship and an American justice system that can serve as an effective check and balance to prevent illegal and unconstitutional actions by the government. The Court’s feckless conservative majority claims that this decision is merely procedural, but that is a lie they tell to absolve themselves of leaving millions of Americans newly vulnerable to government overreach.”
And in still another Friday afternoon press release, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro also condemned the court’s decision and the Trump administration’s executive order: “Since 1868, the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution has guaranteed citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil. The Trump Administration is trying to end birthright citizenship, but had been barred from doing so by a nationwide injunction. This ruling from the Supreme Court upends that nationwide injunction. This means that for now, birthright citizenship is no longer protected at a national level. Instead, Americans’ rights now depend on the decisions of the lower court districts they live in. This will create chaos and confusion across the country. The Court did not rule on the substance of birthright citizenship, which it will have to take up at a later time. I will fight to see this disastrous decision overturned, because every child born in America is a citizen.”