Equality California Condemns Supreme Court Ruling That Enables Trump’s Brazen Power Grabs in Birthright Citizenship Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In a grave blow to the ability of federal judges to check the otherwise unrestrained Trump Administration from gutting longstanding civil rights protections, the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling today dramatically limited the scope of lower court injunctions and effectively leaves Donald Trump's executive order targeting birthright citizenship intact. The 6-3 opinion written by Justice Coney Barrett overturned lower court nationwide injunctions in Trump v. CASA, Trump v. Washington, and Trump v. New Jersey, which blocked the executive branch from unilaterally gutting birthright citizenship. Equality California Executive Director Tony Hoang issued the following statement:

"This is a dark day for our democracy. With a Republican-led Congress functioning as little more than a rubber stamp for the president's most dangerous and chaotic impulses, it has fallen to the judicial branch to act as a critical check on executive overreach. Time and again-25 times, in fact-our courts have intervened to block or slow some of Trump's most unpopular and harmful policies: mass firings of federal workers, deep cuts to scientific research and innovation, rollbacks of migrant protections, and attacks on programs aimed at advancing equity and inclusion.

The Supreme Court has opened the door to ending the bedrock principles of the Constitution - that our democracy rests on the checks and balances of all three coequal branches of government and undermines the Constitutional right to citizenship granted to all people born on U.S. soil.

Donald Trump's executive order destroying birthright citizenship is a direct attack on immigrant families, communities of color, and the very idea of who belongs in America. This decision is part of a broader pattern of attacks on marginalized communities - from transgender youth to immigrant families - orchestrated by Trump and far-right extremists. It erodes the American rule of law and should not be tolerated."

The ruling threatens to undermine the 14th Amendment's Citizenship Clause, a bedrock principle that has protected generations of Americans born to immigrant parents. By weakening or eliminating lower courts' ability to offer nationwide injunctive relief from unconstitutional executive action,, the Supreme Court has significantly undercut judicial oversight-a key constraint on presidential power-and made it harder to stop future illegal attacks on civil rights protections.

Equality California stands in solidarity with those impacted and will continue to fight for the protection of the freedoms and futures of all people, regardless of their origin or identity.

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