[*NOTE: I wrote this a while ago. Right after the Executive Order on Birthright Citizenship dropped. So, this post addresses the underlying subject-matter legal issues related to the recent Supreme Court Decision about the “reach” of local Federal District Courts, in this case as it applies to Birthright Citizenship cases. This blurb does not really address that jurisdictional issue, the validity of universal injunctions, the issue the Supreme Court was actually talking about this week. That issue is complicated, and I am not sure where I stand on it, to be frank. Not simple.
This new SCOTUS ruling is all about whether “nationwide injunctions” are valid, simply put. Their analysis would apply equally to litigation brought by ANYONE, not only by a specific administration. I know that it was a concern of some of the Dems too. The concept applies to any and all such litigation, regardless of who brought it (i.e. The same analysis applies to ALL sides of the political spectrum.) This is how law really works, versus how non-lawyers think it works or want it to work.
This jurisdictional decision has zero to do with the underlying substantive legal issue (birthright citizenship). The recent SCOTUS opinion is only about Jurisdiction and the reach of the local courts’ authority. It has nothing to do with the underlying issues. That is a totally different legal analysis.
It would be like arguing that the evidence seized pursuant to an illegal Search Warrant should not be suppressed because the Defendant is Guilty of Murder. Guilt is not relevant to the legality of the warrant in any way, shape or form. If you get the warrant tossed you would never say you “won” the underlying dispute. There is still a trial to be tried. So…. the underlying “matter in dispute” (Birthright Citizenship) is 100% irrelevant to whether the court has the power to order the entire country to do or not do something with a “universal injunction”, …..but that belongs in its own blog. Suffice to say, the fact that people think it does shows that they are either 1. Not Lawyers or 2. Did not go to Stanford Law. 🤷♂️ Maybe Stetson Law School, whatever that is.
This post is about the actual substantive issues in the Birthright Citizenship analysis, not about jurisdiction. Similar but TOTALLY FRIGGIN’ DIFFERENT! At least to actually competent and honest lawyers.
The underlying issue at hand could be Birthright Citizenship or Capital Murder or whether Red Dye #2 in jelly beans should be banned all over the country by a local Federal District Court. If that confuses you are either not a lawyer (or not a very good one). Sorry………Here goes nothin’….
*I’m really worried I.C.E. might come for me next.
You see, I’m descended from “illegal aliens”, who showed up in America with no passports, killed the locals, stole their food and land, and then proceeded to take over the entire country by force, raping and pillaging as they went.**
So, I’m worried that the Executive Order recently issued by Trump to attempt to end “birthright citizenship” may officially make me one of the “Illegals”. That’s because the order, titled “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship,” states that a child born in the U.S. must have at least one parent who is either a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident to automatically become a U.S. citizen.
The problem is that I’m a Mayflower Descendant. My people showed up, uninvited, a century and a half before the United States even existed. They were the definition of illegal. So, if Trump’s logic that the 14th Amendment somehow magically does not apply to you unless one or both of your parents were legal citizens….. then the offspring of those Mayflower dudes were all illegal. Their parents were all born in England. If they were illegal then so were their kids. And theirs. And it would go on and on and on over the centuries until you got to …. lil’ ol’ ME. Huh. (Better get my “go-bag” ready.)
Department of Justice lawyers essentially argued in Seattle’s Federal District Court that I am illegal because the 14th Amendment would not apply to someone who comes from such a long line of “Illegals.”
This is exactly what they said (I’m a lawyer so I like to be specific); “Ample historical evidence shows that the children of non-resident aliens are subject to foreign powers — and, thus, are not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and are not constitutionally entitled to birthright citizenship.”
The idea that a member of the Bar would have the nerve to stand up in a public courtroom and make that ridiculous argument boggles my mind. Coug’s too.
Coug is some local lawyers’ nickname for Judge Coughenour. (The gh is silent btw, so it’s pronounced Coone. Do what you will with that.) I know him and have appeared in front of him and respect him. He is the Federal Judge who ruled that this order is “blatantly unconstitutional”. “This boggles my mind” is basically what he told the DOJ “lawyers” (I use the term loosely).
Coug ain’t no Liberal. Trust me. He tends to be tough on our clients. He’s kind of a “hanging judge” to be honest. A Regan appointee. The idea that he is some kind of Seattle Commie is ludicrous.
Fortunately, he’s smart. And, he knows how to read. And think. So, for now I can breathe easy. He made the right decision when he tossed the order. Still. The Feds are appealing. With our current U.S. Supreme Court that makes me a tad nervous. Some of them are pretty much in Trump’s pocket, let’s face it. Taking money from his rich cronies and flying flags supporting his MAGA domestic terrorists (Thomas and Alito to be exact). It could “be wild” if the Supremes get their hands on Coug’s opinion. Who knows what they might do. {Now, we do.}
For now, all I have is a question. Am I illegal or not? The answer to that question is in the hands of the Department of “Justice” and the Courts at this point. I just hope that real justice prevails. If not? A whole bunch of us “blue-bloods” need to get ready to move back home, to England, where I guess I belong.
**HOPEFULLY my people did not do the raping and pillaging part. But they wound up owning half of lower Manhattan so not exactly clean hands there…… (don’t ask where the money went, but I have a copy of the letter my GGGGGG-Uncle Samuel Broome sent to Tom Jefferson, asking about the close to $300K in today’s money that he lent the Continental Army and never got paid back, reminding Tom about how he promised to pay it back when they were hanging out in Paris, begging for money from the French King).
But. In Federal Court my ancestors would for sure be named as Co-Conspirators. Since they 100% were, and since they clearly benefited from the crimes committed by some of their crew. That is how Conspiracies work.