The 14th Amendment is plain:
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Which part of "all" doesn't Donald Trump and his right wing allies not understand. Their Know Nothing hatred of immigrants (except from the good places) takes a lof of forms. The now-disbarred former Chapman Law School Dean John Eastman, like others on the right, has long campaigned against birthright citizenship.
The Executive Order provides, as stated in the NJ AG brief:
A. Terms of the Executive Order. Within hours of taking office, President Trump issued an Executive Order, “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship,” (Ex. W) (“Order”) to strip American-born children of citizenship. The Order declares that birthright citizenship does not extend to anyone born to (i) a mother who is unlawfully present or who is lawfully present on a temporary basis, and (ii) a father who is neither a citizen nor lawful permanent resident. Based on this declaration, the Order announces a new policy: no federal agency “shall issue documents recognizing United States citizenship, or accept documents ... purporting to recognize United States citizenship” for such children born after February 19, 2025 (“Affected Children”). Order, § 2.
Protect birthright citizenship - NJ Attorney General leads multistate lawsuit
VIEW MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION Case 1:25-cv-10139 U.S. Dt. Ct., DMA
TRENTON — Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin today announced he is leading a challenge to President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship, which violates the constitutional rights to which all children born in the United States are entitled.
“President Trump’s attempt to unilaterally end birthright citizenship is a flagrant violation of our Constitution,” said Attorney General Platkin. “For more than 150 years, our country has followed the same basic rule: babies who are born in this country are American citizens. New Jersey is a proud state of immigrants, and we benefit tremendously from the contributions of birthright citizens—in our state and across the country. State Attorneys General have been preparing for illegal actions like this one, and today’s immediate lawsuit sends a clear message to the Trump Administration that we will stand up for our residents and their basic constitutional rights.”
“The Constitution could not be more clear: citizenship of children born in the United States does not depend on the citizenship of their parents. That principle is fundamental to who we are as a nation and what it means to be an American,” said Governor Phil Murphy. “Yesterday’s announcement about birthright citizenship flouts the Constitution and will needlessly harm families who are lawfully present in the United States until it is inevitably overturned by the courts. We will not waver in our efforts to protect the rights of all who call New Jersey home.”
“The Trump administration’s proposal to deny children born in this country citizenship is not only cruel, it goes against our very foundation as Americans,” said Human Services Commissioner Sarah Adelman. “Here in New Jersey, we take pride in our diversity and understand the role immigration has played in shaping our country. We will not let this go without a fight, and I am proud to stand with Governor Murphy and Attorney General Platkin to defend the rights of all Americans.”
The New Jersey A.G.'s brief in support of a motion for preliminary injunction begins:
Few principles are stitched deeper into the American fabric than birthright citizenship— and few principles have clearer grounding in law. From the earliest days of this Nation’s history, America followed the common law tradition of jus soli, that those born within the United States’s sovereign territory are subject to its laws and citizens by birth. That tradition continued unimpeded until the Supreme Court’s notorious pronouncement in Dred Scott that descendants of slaves were not citizens despite their birth in this country. But that aberration was short-lived: in the wake of the Civil War, our Nation adopted the Fourteenth Amendment to ensure citizenship for all who are born here. The Citizenship Clause thus promises “[a]ll persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” Since its adoption, Congress has codified that guarantee, and the Supreme Court has twice confirmed that it means what it says. See 8 U.S.C. § 1401(b); United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649 (1898); Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202 (1982). For more than 150 years, the promise of the Citizenship Clause has never been undermined—until now.
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