President Donald Trump's attempt to abolish birthright citizenship in the United States is being challenged by twenty-four Democratic-led states and cities.
According to the cases, a Trump executive order signed on Monday, January 20, violates the Constitution's 14th Amendment, which grants all children born in the US the right to citizenship.
“Despite a President’s broad powers to set immigration policy, however, the Citizenship Stripping Order falls far outside the legal bounds of the President’s authority,” states a lawsuit from 18 states, Washington, DC, and San Francisco.
The lawsuit may turn out to be the first significant Supreme Court battle for Trump's second-term goals. Since the 18 states filed in a federal court in Massachusetts, any appeal of a decision made by that court will be heard by the First US Circuit Court of Appeals, which has all of its judges appointed by Democrats.
The Supreme Court has upheld birthright citizenship in the past and there is also a federal law passed by Congress, predating the 14th Amendment’s 1868 ratification, establishing that children born on US soil are entitled to citizenship.
“The president’s entitled to put forth a policy agenda that he sees fit,” New Jersey Democratic Attorney General Matthew Platkin, who is co-leading the new lawsuit, told CNN.
“When it comes to birthright citizenship – something that’s been part of the fabric of this nation for centuries, that’s been in the Constitution for 157 years since the Civil War, that’s been upheld by the Supreme Court twice – the president cannot, with a stroke of a pen, rewrite the Constitution and upend the rule of law,” he added.
Attorneys general from Arizona, Oregon, Illinois, and Washington also filed their own lawsuit on the West Coast on Tuesday.
It was submitted to the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, a federal court located in Seattle.
Additionally, before the Trump administration can move forward with implementing the policy, suits are also seeking a preliminary order to block it.
On Monday, immigration rights groups and the American Civil Liberties Union filed similar complaints against Trump's decision.