Federal Ruling Allows Texas to Deny Birth Certificates to U.S.-Born Children of Undocumented
[/center]
A federal judge ruled on Friday that the state of Texas can continue to deny birth certificates to U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants. Texas stopped accepting certain types of identification issued by foreign governments, notably ID cards from Mexican consulates, as sufficient documentation to issue a birth certificate to a parent. A group of undocumented parents filed suit against the state in May and the court case is working its way through the legal system.
Friday’s ruling was in response to a request for an emergency injunction filed to compel the state to change its policy effectively immediately and issue birth certificates until the case is resolved. U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman wrote that he had “grave concerns” over the practice and its impact on the constitutional rights of the children. “It begs credulity for defendants to argue a birth certificate is not a vitally important document. The rights and privileges of citizenship inure to those who are citizens,” Pittman wrote. “The lack of a birth certificate, or other documentation establishing citizenship, presents a clear bar to access to those rights.”
“Earlier this year in Dallas, worries intensified when the county stopped accepting the Mexican ID and school board trustee Miguel Solis voiced concerns about enrollment snags for U.S.-born citizen children,” according to the Dallas Morning News. Pittman, however, denied the appeal writing that a full hearing is needed to resolve the matter because there is a “compelling governmental interest in regulating with care the process of accessing birth certificates.”
Source.
= new reply since forum marked as read
O.K., so this is a ruling on the situation pending the decision. Still, I was assuming it was a wingnut judge. When the word "international" popped up in his bio, hmmm that's not a wingnut orientation. Then, although endorsed by Texas Repukes, he was nominated by OBAMA.
It would seem that the only issues are proof that the child was born in the U.S. and DNA that the child is the parents'. If he rules the correct way in the end, this temporary ruling should add to the cred.
----------WAIT a minnit!1 The ONLY issue is whether the child was born in the U.S.A., *not* nothing about the parents!1
*********QUOTE********
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_L._Pitman
Robert Lee Pitman (born 1962) is a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas and former United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas. He was previously a United States magistrate judge on the same court.
.... After completing law school, Pitman served as a law clerk for Judge David Belew Jr. of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Fort Worth.[3] Pitman holds a Masters Degree in International Human Rights Law from the University of Oxford.
Following his judicial clerkship, Pitman began his career at the international law firm of Fulbright and Jaworski.
In 2001, Pitman briefly served as interim United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas.[3] As US Attorney on September 11, 2001, he formed the first anti-terrorism task force in the district, uniting local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies in their counter-terrorism efforts and in their work to better secure Texas' international border. He was replaced by George W. Bush appointee Johnny Sutton, who asked Pitman to remain in the office as his chief deputy.
n 2009, Republican Senators John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison sent Pitman's name to Democratic President Barack Obama as one of two candidates for United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas.[6][7] The recommendation of Pitman, who is openly gay, was publicly opposed by a social conservative group in Texas.[6][7] On June 27, 2011, almost two years after Pitman was recommended for the post, Obama notified members of congress that he would nominate Pitman to be United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas.[8] He was formally nominated the following day.
Personal
Pitman is a sixth-generation Texan and lives in Austin. He is an avid outdoorsman and horseman.
At the time Pitman was the first openly gay United States Attorney in Texas.[14] He was one of four openly LGBT U.S. Attorneys, alongside Jenny Durkan of the Western District of Washington, Laura Duffy of the Southern District of California and Anne Tompkins of the Western District of North Carolina.[15]
Upon receiving his judicial commission Pitman became the first openly gay judge to sit on the federal bench in the entire 5th Circuit Court system, which covers Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
********UNQUOTE*******
