Donald Trump handed new legal loss over birthright citizenship order

President Donald Trump‘s administration was dealt a new legal loss by a federal appeals court over his executive order regarding birthright citizenship on Wednesday.

Newsweek reached out to the White House via email for comment.

Why It Matters

The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit marked a significant setback for President Trump’s efforts to redefine U.S. citizenship rules. Trump’s executive action seeks to prevent children born on U.S. soil from automatically receiving citizenship if neither parent was an American citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of birth.

Wednesday’s decision from the appeals court reinforced the 14th Amendment’s longstanding interpretation making birthright citizenship accessible to nearly all individuals born in the U.S., regardless of their parents’ legal status.

What To Know

Judge Ronald Gould, writing the opinion for the court, said Trump’s executive order “contradicts the plain language of the Fourteenth Amendment’s grant of citizenship.”

The ruling added: “The district court correctly concluded that the Executive Order’s proposed interpretation, denying citizenship to many persons born in the United States, is unconstitutional. We fully agree.”

In an executive order posted on the day Trump was inaugurated, the president said that “the Fourteenth Amendment has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States. The Fourteenth Amendment has always excluded from birthright citizenship persons who were born in the United States but not ‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof.'”

This is a developing story that will be updated with additional information.