New Jersey, alongside 17 other states, has filed a lawsuit to challenge President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship, alleging it violates the Constitution. The legal action, led by New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin, seeks to block the order from taking effect, arguing it undermines a right established by the Fourteenth Amendment over 150 years ago.
Birthright citizenship guarantees U.S. citizenship to anyone born on American soil, regardless of their parents’ immigration status.
“If allowed to stand, this Order—for the first time since the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted in 1868—would strip thousands of babies born each year in New Jersey of their right to citizenship,” Platkin said.
Under Trump’s order, automatic citizenship is denied to children if their mothers are not legally in the U.S. or their fathers are not U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. It also excludes children whose mothers are legally in the country on temporary status if their fathers lack citizenship or permanent residency.
The lawsuit, filed in Massachusetts federal court, seeks a preliminary injunction to halt the order’s implementation. “The president cannot, with a stroke of a pen, write the 14th Amendment out of existence, period,” Platkin said.
The legal challenge is supported by California, Massachusetts, Colorado, Connecticut, and other states, as well as the District of Columbia and the City of San Francisco.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy described the executive order as a direct affront to constitutional principles.
“The Constitution could not be more clear: citizenship of children born in the United States does not depend on the citizenship of their parents,” Murphy said. “This principle is fundamental to who we are as a nation.”