Civil rights organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union, Legal Defense Fund, Asian Law Caucus, and Democracy Defenders Fund filed a federal lawsuit in New Hampshire to challenge recent executive orders signed by President Trump targeting birthright citizenship.
The executive orders represent a new approach following Trump’s previous comprehensive effort to end birthright citizenship, which the Supreme Court rejected in a 6-3 decision. One order seeks to expand the narrow categories of individuals already deemed ineligible for automatic citizenship under the 14th Amendment. The second order directs the State Department and Department of Homeland Security to prevent “birth tourism,” the practice of pregnant women traveling to the United States specifically to give birth and obtain citizenship for their children.
The rights groups argued that the Supreme Court’s recent decision precludes any revision of current birthright citizenship exceptions. Amia Trigg, deputy director of litigation at the Legal Defense Fund, characterized the new orders as an illegal continuation of the administration’s challenge to constitutional citizenship protections. The administration had allowed a July deadline to request the Supreme Court reconsider its June ruling to pass without action.
The administration’s legal position holds that birthright citizenship has been misinterpreted since the 14th Amendment’s ratification in 1868, arguing the provision was intended only to ensure citizenship for children of formerly enslaved individuals. Chief Justice John Roberts countered in the earlier decision that evidence did not support this “dramatically revisionist view,” noting the amendment’s language extended citizenship to “every free-born person in this land.”
Legal observers view the new executive orders as testing the boundaries of the June ruling. One conservative justice, Brett Kavanaugh, had disagreed with the majority position, potentially leaving room for a different outcome if the matter returns to the Supreme Court. The administration’s orders now target multiple categories, including children of diplomatic staff, alleged terrorist organization members, those resulting from commercial transactions, and certain births in US territories.
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