CONCORD, N.H. — Civil rights groups that secured a major Supreme Court victory protecting the citizenship of children born in the United States are asking a New Hampshire federal court to ensure those protections remain in place following President Donald Trump’s latest executive order challenging birthright citizenship.
The Supreme Court case of Trump v. Barbara was argued by the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of New Hampshire, ACLU of Maine, ACLU of Massachusetts, Legal Defense Fund, Asian Law Caucus and Democracy Defenders Fund.
In its ruling in Trump v. Barbara, the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s order, explaining that one’s citizenship status is based on the “place of nativity” and is “irrespective of parentage.”
The case arose in response to Trump’s issuance of an executive order attempting to deny automatic citizenship to children born in the United States if their parents did not possess residency or legal citizenship.
Despite the organizations’ success and the Supreme Court ruling, which verified that the Constitution’s Citizenship Clause puts “the question of citizenship ‘once and forever [to] rest,’” Trump signed yet another executive order targeting birthright citizenship last week.
The Supreme Court ruled that there are no additional exceptions to the Constitution’s Citizenship Clause beyond those specified in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, which provides exceptions to the clause if the child is born to a foreign diplomat or an invading enemy force, according to the Constitution Center.
Trump’s new order, filed Aug. 6, closely resembles the original order, although some specifics have changed. One of those changes targets the section of the original order that would “not impair the citizenship of ‘children of lawful permanent residents.’”
In the motion filed in New Hampshire and posted on the ACLU website, the new order does not refer to any limitations regarding the children of permanent residents, appearing to indicate that it would apply to the children of permanent legal residents and people who have been granted citizenship status in the past.
Today, the same groups are asking the New Hampshire federal court to make the ruling unquestionably clear, ensuring that the citizenship of newborn babies is protected against Trump’s recent executive order.
The motion states that “the circumstances amply justify this clarification or modification” that the legal groups are seeking, citing Trump’s continued efforts to create exceptions to the Constitution as necessary grounds for such action. The motion states, “If the President issues 100 orders seeking to create new exceptions to the sacred guarantee of the Citizenship Clause, all 100 will be equally illegal.”
In the motion filed today, the legal groups wrote, “The Supreme Court confirmed that … the 14th Amendment is not subject to executive (or legislative) revision. President Trump’s continued resistance to that principle calls for this Court’s renewed intervention.”
Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project and lead counsel, commented on today’s filing, saying, “It’s well past time for these illegal and cruel attacks on children’s citizenship to end.”
Amia Trigg, deputy director of litigation at the Legal Defense Fund, also commented on the unconstitutionality of Trump’s orders, saying that “the Supreme Court could not have been more clear: President Trump’s attempt to redefine who is an American citizen” goes directly against the 14th Amendment.
In addition to Wofsy and Trigg, Molly Curren Rowles, ACLU of Maine executive director, described the finality of the 14th Amendment’s language, saying that “every baby born on U.S. soil is a U.S. citizen.”
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