ACS Responds to SCOTUS Birthright Citizenship Decision

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Nancy Rodriguez, media@acslaw.org

Washington, DC – The American Constitution Society today released the following statement from Interim President Zinelle October in response to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision that would allow some U.S.-born children to be denied citizenship under a Trump Administration executive order.

“In a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court overturned a district court’s nationwide injunction that had prevented the enforcement of President Trump’s January 20, 2025, executive order, “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship”, which purports to end the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship for children born to certain categories of immigrants.

This ruling, while not resolving the question of whether the executive order violates the Constitution, is poised to create confusion, chaos, and pain for immigrant communities and a nightmarish patchwork of rights based on which state a child is born in.

Allowing this cruel and unconstitutional policy to take effect in some states not only creates uncertainty for parents and their children but creates an administrative quagmire for states that will have to determine the citizenship status of children who enter their states from elsewhere in the U.S.

As in so many cases this term, the majority focused on the supposed "irreparable harm" the government will suffer if it isn't allowed to pursue its extreme policies while litigation continues, rather than the harm to those who may be robbed of citizenship by this unconstitutional policy.”

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AMERICAN CONSTITUTION SOCIETY
The American Constitution Society is a 501(c)3 non-profit, non-partisan legal organization. Through a diverse nationwide network of progressive lawyers, law students, judges, scholars, advocates, and many others, our mission is to support and advocate for laws and legal systems that redress the founding failures of our Constitution, strengthen our democratic legitimacy, uphold the rule of law, and realize the promise of equality for all, including people of color, women, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, and other historically excluded communities. For more information, visit us at www.acslaw.org.