The Supreme Court just chickened out -- and let a mess in its wake

[justaprogressive]

Just how bad is the Supreme Court’s June 27 decision on birthright citizenship? Among progressive and liberal commentators, the thinking is surprisingly mixed. Some assert that Trump v. CASA “couldn’t be more disastrous” and will leave the Trump administration with “blood on its hands”; others see “silver linings” in the ruling.

The reason for the diverse reactions is simple: The 6-3 majority decision written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett didn’t address the underlying issue in the case—the constitutionality of President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment for the children of undocumented immigrants. Instead, Barrett and the conservative majority produced a complicated and confusing procedural ruling that leaves the executive order in legal limbo, intact for now but subject to further litigation.

As I have written before, Trump’s birthright order defies the plain text of the very first sentence of the 14th Amendment. Known as the “Citizenship Clause,” the sentence reads: “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.”

Had Barrett and her confederates not ducked the underlying issue of the executive order’s constitutionality, they would have been forced either to rewrite the Citizenship Clause to uphold the order—a step even they apparently are not yet prepared to take—or invalidate a centerpiece of the MAGA mass deportation agenda.

https://www.alternet.org/supreme-court-birthright/]

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. Let me help everybody, I'll make my prediction and as usual

I will be 100% correct because I will predict that they will do the worst possible thing they can.

Before I do that, I wish I had a dollar for every time someone on political message boards yelled at me when I said the right wing Supreme Court would rubberstamp the piece of shit’s agenda. Yes, I heard that a lot.

Supreme court will ultimately allow piece of shit to do any horrible unconstitutional illegal thing he wants to do, just plan on it OK!

[Fiendish Thingy]

2. Article already out of of date as of this morning's ruling from New Hampshire

First nationwide class action injunction against Trump’s birthright citizenship order was issued today.

So, the order is blocked until SCOTUS takes up the birthright citizenship question directly.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

4. It's blocked until a district court

hears the case and makes a decision...and then most likely blocked again until that decision goes through the appeals court...then most likely blocked again until SCOTUS takes it up and decides.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. Maddow Blog-Trump's executive order restricting birthright citizenship blocked by federal judge

The Supreme Court left open a door to challenging the executive order restricting birthright citizenship. The ACLU walked right through.

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/birthright-citizenship-class-action-trump-executive-order-rcna218023

Trump’s order, however, continues to fare poorly in the courts. NBC News reported:

A federal judge in New Hampshire granted class-action status to a lawsuit seeking to protect babies who would be denied birthright citizenship by the Trump administration and granted a temporary block of the order restricting birthright citizenship from going into effect throughout the country. The suit was brought on behalf of a pregnant immigrant, immigrant parents and their infants and had sought class action status for all babies around the country who would be affected by Trump’s executive order and their parents.

NBC News’ report added that the judge in the case “ordered a preliminary injunction temporarily blocking Trump’s order from going into effect, but stayed his order for seven days, allowing the government time to appeal” — which it almost certainly will.

The ruling in the case was issued by U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Laplante, who was appointed to the federal bench by George W. Bush.

While readers might’ve seen headlines about a related Supreme Court ruling last month, as my MSNBC colleague Jordan Rubin explained, the justices’ highly controversial opinion focused largely on the judiciary’s authority, not on the underlying constitutional issue and the legality of Trump’s order itself.

Within hours of the Supreme Court’s ruling, which left open the possibility of using class action lawsuits to challenge the White House’s policy, the ACLU filed just such a case. On Thursday morning, it scored a key victory. Watch this space.

[The Wizard]

5. The Mediocre (formerly Supreme) Court

is an anathema to jurisprudence. Alito and Thomas are entitled to full refunds from the institutions that bestowed credentials upon them.