Seattle-based district court Judge John Coughenour — appointed to the federal bench by noted lefty President Ronald Reagan — is already on record that he is not at all a fan of Donald Trump’s unilateral effort to rewrite the Fourteenth Amendment and end birthright citizenship. He’s overseeing a case to stop Trump’s executive order brought by four states and individual pregnant immigrant plaintiffs. The initial restraining order Coughenour issued on the enforcement of the executive order was set to expire, but yesterday the judge granted the states’ effort to block the EO with a preliminary injunction.
Coughenour isn’t the first to enjoin the order ahead of its February 18th effective date, but he made a stirring statement in defense of the rule of law and against the “clearly unconstitutional” effort of Trump to amend the constitution “under the guise of an executive order.” As reported by Law360:
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“It has become ever more apparent that to our president the rule of law is but an impediment to his policy goals,” Judge Coughenour said at a hearing Thursday. “The rule of law is, according to him, is something to navigate around or simply ignore, whether that be for political or personal gain.
“Nevertheless, in this courtroom and under my watch, the rule of law is a bright beacon which I intend to follow,” the judge said. “… I refuse to let that beacon go dark today.”
Judge Coughenour continued, “We are all citizens subject to the rule of law.” Adding, “No amount of policy debate can change that. And the fact that the government has cloaked what is effectively a constitutional amendment under the guise of an executive order is equally unconstitutional.”
“If the government wants to change the exceptional American grant of birthright citizenship, it needs to amend the Constitution itself. That’s how the Constitution works, and that’s how the rule of law works,” the judge said. “Because the president’s order attempts to circumscribe this process, it is clearly unconstitutional.”
Powerful stuff — particularly coming from a Republican-appointed judge.
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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @[email protected].