Supreme Court limits nationwide injunctions, but fate of Trump birthright citizenship order unclear

WASHINGTON AP A divided Supreme Court on Friday ruled that individual judges lack the authority to grant nationwide injunctions but the decision left unclear the fate of President Donald Trump s restrictions on birthright citizenship The outcome was a domination for Trump who has complained about individual judges throwing up obstacles to his agenda But a conservative majority left open the possibility that the birthright citizenship changes could remain blocked nationwide Trump s order would deny citizenship to U S -born children of people who are in the country illegally Birthright citizenship automatically makes anyone born in the United States an American citizen including children born to mothers in the country illegally The right was enshrined soon after the Civil War in the Constitution s th Amendment In a notable Supreme Court decision from United States v Wong Kim Ark the court held that the only children who did not automatically receive U S citizenship upon being born on U S soil were the children of diplomats who have allegiance to another governing body enemies present in the U S during hostile occupation those born on foreign ships and those born to members of sovereign Native American tribes The U S is among about countries where birthright citizenship the principle of jus soli or right of the soil is applied The greater part are in the Americas and Canada and Mexico are among them Trump and his supporters have argued that there should be tougher standards for becoming an American citizen which he called a priceless and profound gift in the executive order he signed on his first day in office The Trump administration has asserted that children of noncitizens are not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States a phrase used in the amendment and therefore are not entitled to citizenship But states immigrants and rights groups that have sued to block the executive order have accused the administration of trying to unsettle the broader understanding of birthright citizenship that has been accepted since the amendment s adoption Judges have uniformly ruled against the administration The Justice Department had argued that individual judges lack the power to give nationwide effect to their rulings The Trump administration instead desired the justices to allow Trump s plan to go into effect for everyone except the handful of people and groups that sued Failing that the administration argued that the plan could remain blocked for now in the states that sued New Hampshire is covered by a separate order that is not at issue in this matter As a further fallback the administration demanded at a minimum to be allowed to make populace announcements about how it plans to carry out the initiative if it eventually is allowed to take effect