Ninth Circuit Affirms Nationwide Scope of Birthright Citizenship Injunction

On July 23, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the nationwide scope of a Washington district court injunction barring implementation of President Trump’s January 20 birthright citizenship Executive Order (EO). The Ninth Circuit decision follows a June 27 Supreme Court decision that limited the authority of federal courts to issue nationwide (or “universal” in the court’s terminology) injunctions, directing courts to issue injunctions only to the extent necessary to provide complete relief to plaintiffs.

In response, four plaintiff U.S. states (Arizona, Illinois, Oregon, and Washington) argued to the Ninth Circuit that complete relief from enforcement of the birthright citizenship EO requires a nationwide scope because the States would suffer the same harms under a geographically-limited injunction as they would without an injunction – namely that the States would need to overhaul all state-wide systems that administer programs eligible for citizens only, among other harms. The Ninth Circuit agreed and determined that the federal district court did not abuse its discretion in issuing a nationwide injunction, thereby leaving the nationwide protection intact. The cases are State of Washington et al. v Trump et al., 25-807 (9th Cir.) and State of Washington et al. v. Trump et al., 2:25-cv-00127 (W.D. Wash.).

The U.S. government is already barred from implementing the birthright citizenship EO pursuant to a court order in a separate lawsuit. A nationwide class action preliminary injunction was issued on July 10 by a New Hampshire federal district court.

It is expected that the U.S. government will appeal the Ninth Circuit decision to the Supreme Court and will continue to appeal any lower court decisions unfavorable to the government in the various ongoing lawsuits challenging the birthright citizenship EO. As long as any nationwide legal remedy remains in place, the EO cannot be implemented. Regardless of the outcome of the current array of preliminary injunction requests and appeals, the legality of the EO itself will continue to be litigated in the lower courts in the underlying lawsuits.