Former Judge Slams Trump’s Executive Order on Birthright: ‘Blatantly Unconstitutional’

JANSING: “The Supreme Court today making that decision that limits the ability of courts to issue nationwide injunctions. And experts say the impact on the judicial system will be enormous. For more on that, let’s bring in retired U.S. District Judge in the Southern District of New York, Shira Sheindlin. Thanks so much for being with us. I mean, we heard from Pam Bondi, the attorney general, Todd Blanche. They promoted this ruling as a denunciation of lower courts. How do you see it?”

SCHEINDLIN: “I don’t see it as a denunciation of lower courts at all. This has been a long time coming. I have to say, I anticipated this ruling. I’m not surprised by this ruling. All presidents recently have been very unhappy with nationwide injunctions. It only depends which side you’re on, so to speak. So, President Biden and President Obama had plenty of problems with it when their policies were enjoined by nationwide injunctions, so I understand limiting the use of that device, but there’s going to be ways around. First of all, there are class actions and the opinion refers to that. The argument referred to that. You can have a certified class, it will take longer, but you can get nationwide relief that way. I also expect the suits are going to be brought throughout the country. I think the people who bring these lawsuits are not going to back down. They’re going to go to state after state after state and try to get rulings as fast as possible.”

JANSING: “What we just heard from two of the people involved in this particular case saying, we’re not backing down.”

SCHEINDLIN: “No.”

JANSING: “But, having said that, the argument that was made, including in the dissent, was, if ever there was a case that argued that a District Court injunction should have national implications, because of the way people go across borders, this was it. Do you agree with that?”

SCHEINDLIN: “Yes, there’s truth to that. And if I were a sitting judge, I would have issued a nationwide injunction because this executive order is blatantly unconstitutional. It simply conflicts with the language of the 14th Amendment, Section I, which says, if you give birth here, the person who’s born is a citizen. It’s that simple. So it’s kind of a shame that we don’t have that protection now, but a lot can happen when it goes back to the lower court. This decision didn’t exactly vacate the order. It said it has to be narrowed. It has to be narrowed in a way that makes it applicable to give complete relief. And I’m sure the Attorney General is going to say, in order to have complete relief, we need it to be across borders and the individuals will certainly say, has to apply throughout this state. So I think there’s room to see what will develop when it goes back to the lower court.”