Trump's New Attempt To Undermine 14th Amendment

 

Yesterday, with white nationalist aide Stephen "Pee Wee Goebbels" Miller by his side, the racist and delusional Malignant Fascist signed new executive orders (which he sees as royal proclamations) aimed at curtailing birthright citizenship, after the Republican Supreme Court rebuffed his earlier attempts at undermining the Fourteenth Amendment.  From The Guardian:

"Trump on Thursday signed two executive orders that seek to broaden the categories of children ineligible for automatic US citizenship and ban so-called 'birth tourism'. The directives are expected to face legal challenges.

Trump has long sought to dismantle birthright citizenship and has made the effort a centerpiece of his second-term immigration crackdown. He has thus far been unsuccessful.

On Thursday, the president lashed out at the supreme court over what he called “a very unfortunate decision in the supreme court concerning birthright”. [snip]

A first new order seeks to expand the definitions ​of children who would not be able to receive birthright ​citizenship.

Historical exceptions to the citizenship clause of the 14th amendment have included children born in the US to foreign sovereigns and diplomats; children of occupying foreign forces; children born on foreign ships; and children of Indigenous Americans.

Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff and chief architect of Trump’s anti-immigration agenda, said the order aims to expand the categories to include children of members of 'foreign terrorist organizations' as well as 'large categories of people who lobby and act on behalf of foreign governments', though it is unclear who would fall into the latter category."  (our emphasis)

The article notes that the second order addresses "birth tourism," which is already illegal visa fraud.  The MF wants broad latitude to determine who fits in these new "categories," so that he can effectively deny citizenship to children of his political enemies abroad.  His latest attempt will be challenged in court with the result likely being the same as the last time:

"The American Civil Liberties Union on Thursday said the orders were another unconstitutional attempt to undo birthright citizenship after the administration’s defeat at the supreme court in June.

'The supreme court already decided this issue: birthright citizenship is guaranteed by the constitution. No additional executive order can change the meaning of the constitution,' said Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project. 'Any executive order that tries to rewrite birthright citizenship will meet the same fate as the last one.'”

Stay tuned for the next go-around in the bigoted MF's crusade to limit birthrights.

 

Trump: We Are A "Stupid Country"

 

As the Supreme Court is about to hear arguments against birthright citizenship from the white supremacist regime of the Malignant Fascist, the mentally unfit MF raged on his social media platform against the Constitutional guarantee, which is enshrined in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. In his ignorant and bigoted statement, the MF declared that "we are....a STUPID Country." [Ed.:  true, the MAGAts that voted for him as many as three times have made it so].  He sees the normal interpretation of the Amendment as perpetrating a "scam" which is loved by "drug cartels" in his irrational mind.

Totally misreading the Amendment, the MF declares it was only meant to apply to "BABIES OF SLAVES." Using his illogic, that would mean that every American-born child of an immigrant thereafter, no matter the country of origin, would not have been entitled to citizenship, including the idiotic MF's German and Scottish ancestors. 

Despite the Supreme Court's MAGA-lean, undermining the 14th Amendment's actual meaning may be a bridge too far for them (with the usual exception of  MAGAt clowns Alito and Thomas). 

BONUS: Please read Joyce Vance's analysis of the MF's move against birthright citizenship. Quote:

"We’re here because Donald Trump is intent on usurping as much of the power of government as he can into his own hands. And what is more fundamental than assigning citizenship? We know that Trump wants people from Mexico, Central America, South America, the Middle East, and Asia out of the country. But he’s okay with white Afrikaners from South Africa, even willing to bring them in, give them benefits, and put them on a fast track to citizenship. Deporting people to gulags in El Salvador and abducting students and others from their neighborhoods are part and parcel of this. Trump is, quite literally, trying to define the complexion of America."

 

Some In Justice System Standing For Rule Of Law

 

Some developments on the legal front this morning:

Deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia without due process

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court order that the Trump administration must “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was forcibly and wrongly deported to El Salvador, where he is in prison.

But the Supreme Court in its decision told a Maryland federal district court judge to clarify his order last week that the administration “effectuate” the return of Abrego Garcia.

The decision also directed the Trump administration to prepare “to share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps” related to his possible return.

The Trump administration had opposed the order to return the El Salvador native even after acknowledging that he “was subject to a withholding order forbidding his removal to El Salvador, and that the removal to El Salvador was therefore illegal,” the Supreme Court noted in its ruling.

The Supreme Court decision is a major rebuke to the administration, which, since the return of President Donald Trump to the White House, has made the forcible deportation of purported gang members a top priority...

Trump defamation suit

U.S. President Donald Trump has failed to persuade a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit accusing him of making defamatory statements about five Black and Hispanic men who were wrongly convicted and imprisoned for the 1989 rape of a white jogger in New York's Central Park.

Philadelphia-based U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone ruled on Thursday that the men had presented enough evidence for now to pursue their lawsuit accusing Trump of defaming them in comments he made during the 2024 presidential campaign. The judge narrowed the lawsuit, however, by dismissing a claim by the plaintiffs of intentional infliction of emotional distress.

 

The lawsuit was filed in federal court last October by Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron Brown and Korey Wise, called the Central Park Five. The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified monetary damages for reputational and emotional harms as well as punitive damages.

 

Shanin Specter, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, in a statement on Thursday welcomed the judge's ruling and said he and his clients "look forward to discovery, trial and the ultimate vindication of these five fine men."...

Birthright citizenship

A federal judge appointed by President Donald Trump has scolded his administration and the Justice Department for dragging its feet in an ongoing birthright citizenship case, denying a request Wednesday for more time after firmly telling the DOJ that motions for extensions were “discouraged.”

 

“Defendants appear to have had access to the relevant pleadings — both in this case and in the other identified cases — for at least two months,” a minute order read from U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly on Wednesday. “And despite Defendants’ conclusory assertion of ‘good cause shown,’ they do not explain why they were unable to file any response to the Complaint — or the contemplated motion to stay — before the expiration of the current deadline,” the minute order said.

Kelly, appointed by Trump in 2017, noted the court’s standing order issued on Jan. 31, the day after the birthright citizenship case was first filed, outlining the rules and details of the ongoing proceedings. The order included specific guidelines about what would be required if the government wanted an extension.

Kelly said Wednesday that the DOJ followed none of them with its Monday motion for an extension...

Humanitarian parole

A federal judge on Thursday will halt the Trump administration from ending a program that allowed hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans to temporarily live in the United States.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani announced that she plans to issue a stay on the program, which was set to end later this month. The push to help more than 500,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans is part of a broader legal effort to protect nationals from Ukraine, Afghanistan and other countries who are here legally.

During a hearing on the case, Talwani repeatedly questioned the government’s assertion for ending the program — namely that it has the power to do and that it was no longer serving its purpose. She argued that immigrants in the program who are here legally now face an option of “fleeing the country” or staying and “risk losing everything.”

“The nub of the problem here is that the secretary, in cutting short the parole period afforded to these individuals, has to have a reasoned decision,” Talwani said, adding that the explanation for ending the program was “based on an incorrect reading of the law.”

“There was a deal and now that deal has been undercut,” she added later in the hearing.

Last month, the administration revoked legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, setting them up for potential deportation in 30 days. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said they will lose their legal status on April 24.

They arrived with financial sponsors and were given two-year permits to live and work in the U.S. During that time, the beneficiaries needed to find other legal pathways if they wanted to stay in the U.S. Parole has been a temporary status.

President Donald Trump has been ending legal pathways for immigrants to come to the U.S., implementing campaign promises to deport millions of people who are in the U.S. illegally... 

It's been said, with the legislative branch of the federal government neutered by subservient Republican MAGAt control and pusillanimous Democrats in key positions, the courts are the only branch offering resistance (for now) to the ambitions of our would- be fascist dictator.  We anticipate the day coming soon when the unbound and lawless Malignant Fascist echoes the (likely apocryphal) quote by President Andrew Jackson on a case ruled on in 1832 by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall:  "John Marshall has made his ruling, now let him enforce it."  For someone who believes he's above the law, that's the clear course ahead.

Birthright Citizenship: Round One To The Constitution

 

The first judge to hear an appeal of the lawless Malignant Fascist's executive order odor ending birthright citizenship temporarily blocked the un-Constitutional action, delivering a sharp rebuke to the MF:

A Republican-appointed federal judge granted a request from Democratic attorneys general in Arizona, Illinois, Oregon and Washington to temporarily halt the implementation of President Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to undocumented parents or parents who have lawful but temporary residency status. 

The 14-day, nationwide temporary restraining order issued from the bench by Judge John C. Coughenour comes after the quartet of states filed a federal complaint Tuesday contending that the newly signed executive order flouts the 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause — which automatically confers citizenship to those born in the United States — as well as federal immigration law.

Coughenour, an 84-year-old Reagan-appointee who held a hearing in Seattle today, said “I have been on the bench for over four decades. I can’t remember another case where the case presented is as clear as it is here …This is a blatantly unconstitutional order.”

“There are other times in world history where we look back and people of goodwill can say where were the judges, where were the lawyers?”

Originally set to take effect Feb. 19, Trump’s so-called “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship” executive order specifically targets the children of parents who are either “unlawfully present” or “temporary but lawful” citizens at the time of their birth. 

Coughenour’s temporary ruling will prevent Trump’s executive order from going into effect for now as he weighs whether to issue a preliminary injunction that would block the order in the longer term... (our emphasis)

If there is still "justice" in this country, this clearly un-Constitutional, bigoted order will continue to be slapped down, at least until it gets to the Republican Supreme Court, when we will get to see if Coughenour's clarity is shared by his fellow robed Republicans.

(Image:  Judge Coughenour and the convicted felon's Fulton County, GA, mugshot / via timesnownews.com)

Trump Begins Attack On Birthright Citizenship, Constitution

 

The first of what we expect to be many un- American assaults on the U.S. Constitution was launched on Monday when the lawless Malignant Fascist signed an executive order ending birthright citizenship, enshrined in the 14th Amendment. Democratic- led states, cities, and advocacy groups were prepared to fight this cruel manifestation of the MF's white nationalist authoritarianism:

Two dozen Democratic-led states and cities are challenging President Donald Trump’s bid to end birthright citizenship in court, a major constitutional challenge to one of the White House’s signature policies.

The lawsuits allege that a Trump executive order signed Monday violates the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which gives a constitutional right of citizenship to all children born in the United States.

“Despite a President’s broad powers to set immigration policy, however, the Citizenship Stripping Order falls far outside the legal bounds of the President’s authority,” states a lawsuit from 18 states, Washington, DC, and San Francisco.

The case could end up becoming the first major Supreme Court showdown for Trump’s second-term agenda. The 18 states filed in a Massachusetts federal court, which means any appeal of a ruling from that court will come up through the First US Circuit Court of Appeals, where all the judges are Democratic appointees. 

“The president’s entitled to put forth a policy agenda that he sees fit,” New Jersey Democratic Attorney General Matthew Platkin, who is co-leading the new lawsuit, told CNN.

“When it comes to birthright citizenship – something that’s been part of the fabric of this nation for centuries, that’s been in the Constitution for 157 years since the Civil War, that’s been upheld by the Supreme Court twice – the president cannot, with a stroke of a pen, rewrite the Constitution and upend the rule of law,” he added.

Also Tuesday, the attorneys general of Washington, Arizona, Oregon and Illinois brought their own lawsuit on the west coast. It was filed at a federal court in Seattle that is within the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, a traditionally left-leaning court that has become less liberal in recent years.

Both suits are also seeking a preliminary order blocking the policy before the Trump administration can take steps to implement it.

Similar lawsuits targeting Trump’s order were brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and immigration rights groups on Monday...

There's more at the link about the scope and timing of the executive order.  American Civil Liberties Union executive director Anthony D. Romero had this to say about the assault on the 14th Amendment:

“Denying citizenship to U.S.-born children is not only unconstitutional — it’s also a reckless and ruthless repudiation of American values. Birthright citizenship is part of what makes the United States the strong and dynamic nation that it is. This order seeks to repeat one of the gravest errors in American history, by creating a permanent subclass of people born in the U.S. who are denied full rights as Americans. We will not let this attack on newborns and future generations of Americans go unchallenged. The Trump administration's overreach is so egregious that we are confident we will ultimately prevail.”

Our concern is, while the litigants have legal precedent on their side, all bets are off once it reaches the MAGA Republican Supreme Court, which has blissfully ignored precedent in the past, overturning 50 years of it in Dobbs.  But, however hard it might be for SCOTUS to ignore the Amendment's plain language and 157 years of precedent in this instance, service to the cult leader and his authoritarian agenda could well "trump" all else.  Remember, these are the same servile 6 "justices" that determined the MF had full immunity for official acts. 

If he gets away with this egregious authoritarian overreach, don't be shocked if he reinterprets the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution in order to stay in power after the next 4 ugly years are up.

(Cartoon:  Jack Ohman, Tribune Content Agency)

Wa Po On Scott Walker: He's Down, He's Up, He's Down!

Our elite political media at the once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle can't seem to get its narrative straight when it comes to Koch brothers puppet and empty vessel Gov. Scott "Koch Head" Walker (R-Kochland).  In the course of three pages in today's paper, they either think he's floundered on the "anchor babies" "birthright citizenship" issue or that he's "gotten his groove back."  Here's today's play- by- play:

He's down!  Conventional wisdom faucet Chris "Lizard" Cillizza today:

Scott Walker can't seem to give a straight answer when it comes to the 14th Amendment and whether or not he believes in the idea of birthright citizenship.

In the last seven days he has been opposed to the idea, then revoked that support, then made clear to a donor that he wouldn't seek to end it, then said he has no position on it, then said he opposed repealing the 14th Amendment.

He's up!  Amber "Waves of Grain" Phillips today (no link):

Best Thing That Happened To Republicans
Scott Walker appears to have gotten his groove back.  With polls showing the Wisconsin governor's lead disappearing in key early states in the Republican nominating race, Walker appears to have rebooted his campaign.  He's focusing on his reputation as an anti-establishment governor, telling voters in a hectic three-day swing in New Hampshire how he has taken on establishment figures in the Republican party by defeating the unions in his home state.  If his reboot works, Walker may have helped Republicans figure out a way to surge past Outsider- in- Chief Donald Trump.

He's down! Jenna Johnson today:

GOP presidential hopeful Scott Walker appears to have yet again shifted his stance on allowing the children of illegal immigrants to automatically gain U.S. citizenship.

In an interview on ABC News' "This Week" on Sunday morning, Walker said he does not want to alter the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which states that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States… are citizens of the United States." Nearly a week ago, Walker said he wants to end birthright citizenship, and he would not say then whether he agrees with the 14th Amendment.

These Beltway stenographers have their Hillary Clinton narrative written down, thanks to emptiest suit in politics RNC chair cushion Reince Priebus (she's "untrustworthy, secretive, scandal- plagued"), who's only accomplishment in his tenure has been the relatively easy task of spoon- feeding his anti- Clinton talking points to an eager and receptive media.  When it comes to pegging Scott Walker for what he is, a lot of folks have it figured out, including people in Wisconsin.  But for you perfesshunal analysts, it's hard work! So, let us give you some help with this visual:

How's that?!  You're welcome!

BONUS:  Scottie thinks it would be a grand idea to cancel next week's official visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to the White House because….the drop in the stock market!  Why stop there, Scottie?  How about an attack on the mainland?  Scott Walker: Plays. With. Toes.

George Will Aghast Trump Isn't More Subtle About His Deportation Policy

(click on image to enlarge)

(Mike Luckovich, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Republican establishment hack George F. "Effing" Will is in Official Panic Mode:

It has come to this: The GOP, formerly the party of Lincoln and ostensibly the party of liberty and limited government, is being defined by clamors for a mass roundup and deportation of millions of human beings. To will an end is to will the means for the end, so the Republican clamors are also for the requisite expansion of government’s size and coercive powers.

Most of Donald Trump’s normally loquacious rivals are swaggeringly eager to confront Vladimir Putin but are too invertebrate — Lindsey Graham is an honorable exception — to voice robust disgust with Trump and the spirit of, the police measures necessary for and the cruelties that would accompany his policy. The policy is: “They’ve got to go.”  [snip]

About 900,000 of America’s Hispanic citizens reach voting age each year. In 2012, less than half of eligible Hispanics voted, but Republicans have figured out how to increase Hispanic turnout.  (our emphasis)

Will rightly makes note of the "invertebrate" Republicans running against Trump, but apparently has sensibilities too delicate to note the other "invertebrates" who have led the Republican/ New Confederate/ Stupid Party to this pass.  One such "invertebrate" would be George "Effing" Will who, along with the vast majority of right-wing media, has fed hateful nonsense to the yahoos for decades.  Nonsense about immigration.  Nonsense about climate change.  Nonsense about Obamacare.  Nonsense about "voter fraud."  Nonsense about the Iran nuclear deal.  And on and on. For that, George "Effing" Will and his fellow fantasy bullshit artists deserve a great deal of credit.  (As Matt Taibbi notes below, "America has been trending stupid for a long time. Now the stupid wants out of its cage, and Trump is urging it on.")

It's important to note that Will makes his argument against Trump's deportation policy in terms of "expansion of government's size and coercive power" and the electoral effect of firing up Hispanic Americans against Republicans.  Passing attention is paid to the "cruelties."  Also, if you go to the link and read his full op/ ed, he's perfectly happy to talk about "anchor babies" "birthright citizenship" once the clamor (and election?) has passed by.  Punctilious asshole. 

Trump and his far- right- wing nativist/ know-nothing/ fear- engorged claque has found a Petri dish in that part of the American political spectrum in which it has thrived and will continue to thrive.  The biggest problem for Will and his fellow establishment Republicans is that Trump is a blaring horn, whereas they would prefer a dog whistle. 

Trumpnado And The Remoras

Republican front-runner Donald "Rump" Trump's demagogic and racist assault on immigrant families has, as the New York Times notes, given the "talented," "well-qualified," and "strong" field of Republicans running for President an opportunity:

You could say the front-running Mr. Trump has put his opponents in a bind. Or you could say he has given them a gift: the opportunity to be specific in return about what they would do to fix the immigration mess. And to be forthright in rejecting his despicable proposals. Because his plan is so naked — in its scapegoating of immigrants, its barely subtextual racism, its immense cruelty in seeking to reduce millions of people to poverty and hopelessness — it gives his opponents the chance for a very clear moral decision. They can stand up for better values, and against the collective punishment of millions of innocent Americans-in-waiting.

Haha no:

But as Mr. Trump swells in the polls, his diminished opponents are following in his wake, like remoras on a shark. Several have shuffled onto the anti-birthright-citizenship bus, including Rick Santorum, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ben Carson and Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey. Even Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who once fought for smart bipartisan immigration reform, wants to repeal birthright citizenship. As does Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, a birthright citizen himself. As for Mr. Trump’s other restrictionist proposals, several are firmly lodged again in the playbook of a Republican Party that briefly tried to reform itself after the Mitt Romney debacle. Some candidates are even willing to try to trump Mr. Trump in xenophobia: Mr. Carson is talking about using armed military drones at the border. That’s right — bombing Arizona.

But here's the real underlying problem for the Republican/ New Confederate/ Stupid Party:

But they're only responding to their electorate. Look, for instance, at this 2011 Pew Research Center poll, which made clear in its question that ending birthright citizenship would entail amending the Constitution. Thirty-nine percent of Americans overall said that's what we should do to make sure the children of unauthorized immigrants couldn't become citizens. Forty-seven percent of Republicans, and 57 percent of Tea Partiers, agreed.

So it may not be a clear majority of Republican voters, but it's plenty of them, and probably a majority of those committed enough to vote in the primaries. If the candidates are looking at the reception Donald Trump is getting for his anti-immigrant rhetoric and thinking they ought to get some of that action for themselves, that wouldn't be surprising. Within the next few days, polls testing this question will start being released, and I'd be shocked if at least some of them don't show a majority of Republicans supporting an end to birthright citizenship.  (our emphasis)

That's right!  You're dealing with nearly a majority of Republicans who reject birthright citizenship (see:  14th Amendment).  The same self- satisfied, rage- stoked "constitutional conservatives" who believe in the sanctity of the Constitution but don't have a clue what it says (and when they find out, they're agin' it!).  You have a significant portion of the population (see above) that, as Charles Pierce would say, plays with their toes.  At the same time, you have people who have been deemed by the corporate media to be "serious" contenders for the Presidency who are so clearly lacking in character, spine and -- what's that Ron Fournier- admired quality again?  Leadership! -- that they not only refuse to take on Rump, but are actually parroting his position.  Some Commanders- in- Chief there!

Meanwhile, Democrats have your video cameras rolling to capture all of the nativist, racist pandering for those short attention span voters!