Chuck Darwin<p>On Thursday, at a federal courthouse in Washington state, U.S. District Judge <br>John C. Coughenour<br>—an 84-year-old Ronald Reagan appointee<br>—delivered a striking rebuke to Trump’s assault on birthright citizenship. </p><p>Speaking from the bench, Coughenour declared: </p><p>“It has become ever more apparent that to our president, <br>the rule of law is but an impediment to his policy goals. <br>The rule of law is, according to him, <br>something to navigate around or simply ignore, <br>whether that be for political or personal gain. </p><p>Nevertheless, in this courtroom, <br>and under my watch, <br>the rule of law is a bright beacon which I intend to follow.” </p><p>He then issued a nationwide injunction <br>prohibiting the administration <br>from denying <a href="https://c.im/tags/birthright" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>birthright</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/citizenship" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>citizenship</span></a> to the children of immigrants <br>for the duration of the litigation</p><p>On this week’s episode of the Amicus podcast, <br>Dahlia Lithwick and <br>Mark Joseph Stern discuss the significance of Judge <a href="https://c.im/tags/Coughenour" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Coughenour</span></a>’s remonstrance, <br>and why it carries so much weight for a sitting judge to forcefully defend the constitutional structure and civil rights now under siege<br><a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/02/federal-judge-birthright-citizenship-donald-trump-ignore-law.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">slate.com/news-and-politics/20</span><span class="invisible">25/02/federal-judge-birthright-citizenship-donald-trump-ignore-law.html</span></a></p>