TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The Supreme Court put off a decision on birthright citizenship—whether someone born in the US is automatically a citizen but the Justices did rule on a question rolled into part of the birthright case. That part of the Supreme Court decision could affect a wide range of court cases.
Before, if you convinced a Federal judge something like a Presidential order should be stopped it could be a universal injunction that would apply nationwide. The Supreme Court ruling means the order would apply just to you. Everyone else would have to file their own lawsuit and get their own individual ruling.
That makes it easier for a President to enforce what he wants without a nationwide court order getting in the way.
The opinion applies not just to Presidential orders but to a huge range of issues a local Federal judge may decide.
“You might have different circuit courts which cover different states, issuing different rulings. You can have a patchwork of results.”
Attorney Louis Fidel of Piccarreta Davis Keenan Fidel, says now for a court ruling to apply nationwide that ruling will probably have to come from the Supreme Court.
He says it might be possible for a large group to file a class action lawsuit seeking a ruling that would apply to more than just one person but the result would only apply to the people who legitimately fall into that group.
“What this decision means is that an injunction in a class action lawsuit can only apply to the members of the class and so, so then, you know, I guess you could file a class action lawsuit and try to make the class as broad as possible.”
Federal courts already have big backlogs and long waits before a case comes to trial. Louis Fidel says the ruling will probably lead to more individual lawsuits and waits that run even longer.
