Twenty-four Democratic-led states and cities have filed lawsuits challenging President Donald Trump’s effort to terminate birthright citizenship in the United States.
The lawsuits argue that Trump’s executive order, signed on Monday, January 20, violates the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which guarantees citizenship to all individuals born on U.S. soil.
“While the President has broad authority to shape immigration policy, the Citizenship Stripping Order exceeds the legal limits of presidential power,” states a lawsuit filed by 18 states, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco.
The case has the potential to become the first major Supreme Court test of Trump’s second-term agenda. The 18 states filed their lawsuit in a Massachusetts federal court, meaning any appeals would proceed through the First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where all judges are Democratic appointees.
Historically, the Supreme Court has upheld birthright citizenship, and a federal law predating the 14th Amendment’s ratification in 1868 affirms that children born in the U.S. are entitled to citizenship.
New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin, a co-leader of the lawsuit, told CNN:
“The president has the right to propose his policy agenda. However, birthright citizenship—enshrined in the Constitution for 157 years, upheld twice by the Supreme Court, and woven into the fabric of our nation—cannot be undone with a single executive order.”
Additionally, attorneys general from Washington, Arizona, Oregon, and Illinois filed a separate lawsuit on the West Coast in a Seattle federal court, which falls under the jurisdiction of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Both lawsuits are seeking preliminary injunctions to block the policy before the Trump administration can implement it.
On Monday, similar lawsuits were filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and immigration advocacy groups, adding to the legal challenges against the executive order.
