Mufalo Chitam was reeling on Friday afternoon.

The executive director of the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition had just heard about a ruling handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court that left unclear the status of the Trump administration’s effort to end birthright citizenship. Chitam said the court’s decision will almost certainly impact Mainers across the state who have immigrated here, as she did.

“Today was just — it numbs you,” she said. “There is still hope. We still have some wins. But when you see birthright citizenship threatened … we were holding onto hope, and maybe there’s no hope.”

In their ruling Friday, the Supreme Court justices did not weigh in on the legality of President Donald Trump’s executive order to deny citizenship to U.S.-born children of people who are in the country illegally.

Instead, the high court ruled, 6-3, that individual judges lack the authority to grant nationwide injunctions. Federal judges had issued such injunctions after a group of immigrant rights organizations and states, including Maine, sued to block Trump’s order.

The justices agreed with the Trump administration, as well as President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration before it, that judges are overreaching by issuing orders that apply to everyone, instead of just the parties before the court.

The cases now return to lower courts, where judges will have to decide how to tailor their orders to comply with the high court ruling, Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote in the majority opinion.

Trump declared the court’s decision “amazing” and a “monumental victory for the Constitution,” the separation of powers and the rule of law.

NEW LAWSUIT FILED

Immigrants’ rights advocates filed a new class action lawsuit Friday in response to the ruling, which they say opens the door for partial enforcement of Trump’s order. Barrett wrote that enforcement of the order can’t take place for another 30 days — which leaves the door open for new, narrower injunctions to block it.

The new lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Maine, ACLU of New Hampshire, ACLU of Massachusetts, Legal Defense Fund, Asian Law Caucus and Democracy Defenders Fund on behalf of a proposed class of babies subject to the executive order and their parents.

“Every court to have looked at this cruel order agrees that it is unconstitutional,” Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project and lead attorney in the new lawsuit, said in a written statement Friday. “The Supreme Court’s decision did not remotely suggest otherwise, and we are fighting to make sure President Trump cannot trample on the citizenship rights of a single child.”

That same group filed a lawsuit earlier this year that argued Trump’s executive order violates the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey, a Democrat, announced in January that he was joining 18 other states in challenging the order to end birthright citizenship, which Frey said violates the constitutional rights to which all children born in the U.S. are entitled.

That lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, followed a similar lawsuit filed in New Hampshire by the ACLU of Maine and other civil rights and immigrants’ rights advocates. A federal judge in early February paused enforcement of the order while the court considered the lawsuits.

Frey said in a statement Friday that fighting to maintain birthright citizenship is a priority for him.

“Children born in Maine to immigrant parents are citizens. Nothing in today’s ruling changes that fact now or in the future. My colleagues and I remain committed to fighting for fidelity to the Constitution and its promise of birthright citizenship,” he wrote.

Fray also said lawsuits against the federal government may be the pathway to fight against the ruling.

“Relief from federal overreach may only be available to states, like Maine, when they bring a lawsuit to hold this presidential administration accountable,” he wrote.

MAINE LEADERS REACT

Birthright citizenship automatically makes anyone born in the U.S. an American citizen, including children born to mothers in the country illegally. The right was enshrined soon after the Civil War in the 14th Amendment. The U.S. is among about 30 countries where birthright citizenship is applied.

Molly Curren Rowles, executive director of the ACLU of Maine, said in a written statement that “the constitutional principles that form the foundation of freedom in this country have always been challenging, complex, and multifaceted. The president’s executive order violates the plain language of the 14th Amendment and flouts fundamental American values.”

Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, said the decision “is truly alarming” and “represents a dangerous shift in the balance of power in our democracy.”

“The implications — for Congress, the separation of powers, and our democracy — are disastrous,” Pingree said in a written statement Friday after the ruling.

Pingree said that without nationwide injunctions, state or groups must litigate their cases individually, which will “inevitably slow the pace of legal challenges and weaken oversight of the Executive branch.”

“Bottom line: this ruling is a gift to the Administration — and a green light for Trump to sign even more outrageous (executive orders), knowing the courts won’t be able to keep up and Republicans in Congress will continue letting him go unchallenged,” Pingree said.

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, called the ruling “troubling on two levels” in a written statement shared with the Press Herald on Friday.

“One, it fails to resolve the underlying question of the legality of President Trump’s grossly unconstitutional attempt to undermine the plain language of the Constitution on birthright citizenship,” King said. “The second problem it creates is a situation where there will be a delay in resolution — during which time people may end up being deported without the opportunity to raise defense.”

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said in a written statement that “over the years, there has been bipartisan concern about district courts issuing injunctions against policies, by both Democratic and Republican administrations, that bind the entire country.

“The Court’s decision today reflects the Article III principle that the courts decide only the cases and controversies before them. It addresses an issue that has been decried by Democrats and Republicans alike.”

Collins added that while the court did not rule on whether Trump’s order is constitutional, she believes “the Constitution is clear — if you are born in America, you are an American citizen.”

A spokesperson for Rep. Jared Golden, D-2nd District, said Golden was in meetings and traveling Friday afternoon and could not comment on the ruling until he had a chance to review it.

Pious Ali, a Portland city councilor, condemned the ruling as “a direct attack on immigrant communities and the values that hold this country together.”

“It demands a serious policy response: from court reform to stronger protections for citizenship and civil rights,” Ali wrote in a text message.

Chitam, of the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, said her community has been deeply affected by what she described as an onslaught of harmful immigration policies.

“The emotional turmoil and the mental health impact of wondering, ‘Do I belong, do I belong, do I belong?'” she said. “This says we don’t belong. It’s really a slap in our face.”  

The Associated Press contributed to this report.