The Class Action Threat to Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Order
Barely two weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court limited the use of nationwide injunctions by federal judges, a federal judge once again blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship from going into effect nationwide. But if you think that sounds like the actions of a judge gone rogue, think again.
In fact, this latest ruling against Trump’s birthright citizenship order actually represents a careful judicial adherence to what the Supreme Court said on June 27. Yes, the Court’s big ruling in Trump v. CASA did tell federal judges to lay off on nationwide injunctions. But the Court also told those same judges that the path remained clear for them to certify national class action lawsuits against Trump’s order in appropriate cases. And so, here we are.
This latest ruling comes in a case called “Barbara” v. Trump. Perhaps the best way to understand what’s going on with it is by first revisiting the concurring opinion written in the nationwide injunctions case last month by Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
“In the wake of the [Supreme] Court’s decision,” Kavanaugh wrote, “plaintiffs who challenge the legality of a new federal statute or executive action and request preliminary injunctive relief may sometimes seek to proceed by class action…and ask a court to award preliminary classwide relief that may, for example, be statewide, regionwide, or even nationwide.” And that class-action approach, Kavanaugh explained, was perfectly fine. “Today’s decision,” he w
Article from Reason.com
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