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A federal judge appointed by President Donald Trump has argued that the US Constitution does not apply non-citizen immigrantClaiming that the founding principle of “We the People” extends only to American citizens.
Appeals Court Judge Amul Thapar gives Trump a short list of contenders Supreme Court Nomination during his first term, argued This week that “the people” refers only to “citizens of the United States who consent to its government.”
Thapar agreed with the majority decision to partially uphold the federal law blocking Immigrants who entered the United States without legal permission Possession of a firearm.
But Thapar went further, arguing that the Founders never intended the Second Amendment — nor the First and Fourth Amendments — to extend to noncitizens, “let alone illegal aliens.”
His dissenting opinion has no legal weight, but was published as the Trump administration looks to the courts for support flood of lawsuits Against a sweeping anti-immigration agenda that has deported thousands of people Those entering the US have been severely limited
Law enforcement officials across the country are accused of depriving immigrants of their constitutional rights with widespread arrests and detentions in violation of the Fourth Amendment, while the Trump administration is attempting to unilaterally redefine who becomes a citizen by rewriting the 14th Amendment.
The administration is also facing legal challenges from non-citizen scholars who argue The government unlawfully retaliated against those who demonstrated against Israel’s war in Gaza. They were put in immigration detention centers and threatened with deportation, in violation of their First Amendment rights.
In this case, Guatemalan citizen Milder Escobar-Temel challenged his conviction for illegal possession of a firearm, which police found in his home in 2022.
Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch, who wrote the majority opinion for the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, argued that noncitizens who enter the country without legal permission are granted constitutional rights after developing “substantial ties to this country.”
But Thapar disagreed, writing that “historical traditions do not support the exclusion of illegal aliens – they demand it.”
He argued that only American citizens have Second Amendment rights. According to Thapar, the First and Fourth Amendments, which respectively protect free speech rights and affirm protections against reasonable searches and seizures, were “originally understood” to apply only to citizens.
He wrote, “Simply put, only those citizens who consent to be governed can claim the rights necessary to govern themselves.”
He also questioned the majority’s reasoning that constitutional protections exist for noncitizens who have “substantial ties to this country,” saying that courts should “stay away from the moral business of deciding what makes an American.”
“Why should courts get to choose what ties make someone an American?” Thapar wrote while defending which constitutional rights are being denied to non-citizens.
“This is a shocking lesson from history [and] example,” according to Pepperdine Law Professor Jake Charles. “It’s not hard to read this in the context of what Trump is doing. I’m sure Judge Thapar is auditioning for the next open seat on the Supreme Court. … This is a dangerous project to try to eliminate the rights of non-citizens at the same time that the administration is punishing speech [and] “Making non-citizens subject to unreasonable searches and seizures.”
Thapar was among the 10 finalists under consideration for the Supreme Court during Trump’s first term. From that list, the president nominated Neil Gorsuch, the first of Trump’s three appointees to the nation’s highest court, which has a six-member conservative majority with three liberal justices.
Thapar also served on the Heritage Foundation’s 18-member “Judicial Advisory Board” for a clause-by-clause analysis of the Constitution, which was serving as a legal manifesto with the right-wing think-tank’s Project 2025 blueprint to support a second term of the Trump administration.
Jamelle Bouie, a columnist for the new York Times, called Thapar’s latest dissent is a “historical and legal fan fiction” designed to “justify Trump’s lawlessness.”
Trump’s allies celebrated Thapar’s writing, with legal aide Mike Davis saying that “We the People” means “sovereign citizens”.
“Illegal aliens do not have equal constitutional rights. We never gave them those. We have the sovereign power.” he has written“Judges can’t steal it,”