'First of many': Internet erupts after judge blocks Trump’s 'blatantly unconstitutional' order

23 January

President Donald Trump just suffered his first major defeat in court not even a week into his second term in the White House.

On Thursday, the New York Times reported that Judge John C. Cougheneur sided with four states that sued the Trump administration over his executive order denying citizenship to the children of undocumented immigrants. In his decision, Cougheneur – who was appointed to the Western District of Washington by Republican President Ronald Reagan — slammed the president's "blatantly unconstitutional order."

"I've been on the bench for over four decades," Cougheneur wrote in the ruling, according to CNBC reporter Carl Quintanilla. "I can’t remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one."

The decision was praised by various journalists, commentators and pundits on social media. On Bluesky, KTLA's David Lazarus observed that "after less than a week in power," Trump was "already in violation of the law." Author Chris Strider celebrated that there was "finally some good news" in the first week of Trump's second administration.

"This will be the first of many," podcaster Bob Cesca wrote on Thursday.

While 22 state attorneys general sued the Trump administration over the executive order, Cougheneur's ruling was specifically in response to lawsuits filed by attorneys general in Arizona, Illinois, Oregon and Washington. Those states argued that the approximately 150,000 children of undocumented immigrants born in the United States each year would be "stateless" under the order. Washington state Attorney General Nick Brown said Cougheneur's ruling means that "immigrant families nationally are protected from any immediate threat of their children losing citizenship."

On Bluesky, Hogan Lovells appellate and Supreme Court attorney Sean Marotta mimicked "[clicking] the stop watch," writing: "So, not even 72 hours."

Click here to read the Times' report in its entirety (subscription required).

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