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Now: A federal judge in DC denied the govt's motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a married lesbian couple -- one US citizen, one not -- whose child was denied US citizenship because the non-citizen mom gave birth. At a hearing today, the judge called the situation "outrageous"
Judge Emmet Sullivan didn't rule on the merits, only that the couple had made allegations at this stage that were enough for the case to go forward. But the judge made clear that he had a problem with the real-world consequences of the State Dept's position
The couple has two kids, one carried by the US citizen parent and the other carried by the non-citizen. The judge kept returning to a hypothetical scenario of the family arriving at a US airport and one kid sitting there watching as their sibling is questioned
One important addendum about the circumstances: Both kids were born outside the United States, which is why this is about what US law says happens in this type of situation (there's no dispute by the government that both kids would be citizens if they were born in the US)
The govt argued the same rules would apply to an opposite-sex couple in this situation (one citizen + one non-citizen who have a kid overseas). The lawyer for the plaintiffs said the problem is this broadly affects same-sex couples (given practicalities of how they can have kids)
There's a similar case playing out in California involving a gay couple and their two kids, one of whom was denied US citizenship. Here's @scottbix on what's going on in that case (the govt is losing so far): thedailybeast.com/state-departme…
A federal judge in DC today denied the govt's motion to dismiss a case filed by a married lesbian couple — one US citizen, one not — whose child born overseas was denied US citizenship. Words used by the judge today: "outrageous," "terrible," "horrible" buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
The judge didn't rule on the merits, but he made no secret of how he felt about the whole situation: "It tugs at the heartstrings," he said. At one point, he compared one of the govt's arguments to the justifications given for slavery buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
