Civil rights organizations filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against President Donald Trump’s latest attempts to restrict birthright citizenship, arguing the moves defy a recent Supreme Court ruling. The legal action, brought in federal court in New Hampshire, targets two executive orders signed last week that aim to narrow who automatically becomes a U.S. citizen at birth.
The groups—including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Legal Defense Fund, the Asian Law Caucus, and the Democracy Defenders Fund—say the orders violate the Constitution and ignore the high court’s June decision that struck down an earlier, broader effort to end birthright citizenship. That ruling, delivered by a 6-3 conservative majority, found Trump’s previous executive action unconstitutional.
“The Supreme Court could not have been more clear: President Trump’s attempt to redefine who is an American citizen through executive action was unconstitutional,” said Amia Trigg, deputy director of litigation at the Legal Defense Fund. “Now, the president is trying to double down on his illegal attack on this constitutional protection. We will not stand idly by as the executive branch blatantly ignores the court’s authority in its crusade against American children.”
The new executive orders take a narrower approach. One seeks to expand the limited exceptions already written into the 14th Amendment, which excludes children of foreign diplomats and invading forces from automatic citizenship. The other directs the State Department and Homeland Security to crack down on “birth tourism”—pregnant women traveling to the U.S. specifically to give birth.
Under the orders, agencies are told not to issue citizenship documents to children of diplomatic staff, alleged members of “terrorist organizations,” individuals deemed part of a “commercial transaction” to secure a U.S. birth, and certain people born in U.S. territories.
Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy and the architect of his hardline immigration agenda, had vowed to challenge the Supreme Court’s June decision. But the administration let the July deadline to seek a rehearing pass, leaving the ruling intact. Now, the new orders are seen as a test of the court’s patience.
The Supreme Court’s June opinion, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, rejected the administration’s argument that birthright citizenship had been misinterpreted since the 14th Amendment’s ratification in 1868. The administration had claimed the amendment was meant only to grant citizenship to children of freed slaves, not to all born on U.S. soil. Roberts wrote that there was “scant evidence for this dramatically revisionist view,” adding: “The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land.’ We keep that promise today.”
Legal observers note that while six justices sided against the administration, conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote separately to say he did not believe the administration’s attempt was unconstitutional. That has given some Trump supporters hope that a future case might succeed.
The lawsuit comes as Republicans look to make birthright citizenship a rallying issue ahead of November’s midterm elections. Several GOP lawmakers have highlighted the practice, arguing the Supreme Court’s decision has energized conservatives. But public opinion polls consistently show broad support for birthright citizenship, even as other immigration policies remain contentious.
Aarti Kohli, executive director of the Asian Law Caucus, one of the groups suing, said the administration is “just throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks.” She added: “Immigrant communities know that our rights are on the line, especially when the government uses us as scapegoats. The Trump administration already lost once, and it will lose again.”
The case now moves through the federal court system, with the New Hampshire suit expected to be a key battleground. Whether the Supreme Court will eventually hear another challenge remains uncertain, but the legal fight over who qualifies as a U.S. citizen is far from over.
