Coalition argues an executive order aimed at limiting citizenship for some U.S.-born children violates the 14th Amendment and federal law and would disrupt benefits, funding, and basic legal rights for families and states.
New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport on Thursday, Feb. 26 led a multistate coalition at the U.S. Supreme Court defending birthright citizenship in a case challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to deny citizenship to certain children born in the United States to immigrant parents. The coalition filed an amicus brief in Trump v. Barbara (Supreme Court docket No. 25-365), a class-action case brought on behalf of children who would lose citizenship under the order. The states argue the order violates the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and conflicts with federal law defining who is a U.S. citizen at birth.
In a statement released with New Jersey’s announcement, Davenport said the state is continuing to fight what it describes as an unlawful attempt to strip citizenship from babies born in the United States. “New Jersey continues to lead the way in defending our birthright citizens and the rule of law from attacks coming out of Washington, D.C.,” Davenport said. “Instead of focusing on the cost of living or public safety, the President is unlawfully attempting to strip countless American babies of their citizenship, violating the Constitution, federal statutes, and over a century of Supreme Court precedent. The States are fighting back.”
The dispute centers on Executive Order 14160, signed on Jan. 20, 2025, and titled “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship.” The order argues that some children born in the United States are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the country for purposes of the Fourteenth Amendment and directs federal agencies not to recognize citizenship for certain U.S.-born children based on their parents’ immigration status. New Jersey and the other states argue that position runs directly against more than a century of legal understanding and against federal statute, including the Immigration and Nationality Act, which says that a person born in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction is a citizen at birth.
The coalition also argues the order would create major disruptions far beyond the families directly affected. According to New Jersey’s summary of the filing, thousands of babies born each year in New Jersey who otherwise would have been recognized as U.S. citizens could lose the privileges and benefits of citizenship. The states say that would create major administrative burdens because a U.S. birth certificate could no longer be treated as reliable proof of citizenship when families seek access to government programs and services. The filing points to possible effects on Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and child welfare supports such as foster care and adoption assistance, while also warning that states could lose related federal funding.
Birthright citizenship, as it is commonly understood today, traces back to the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868, which established a constitutional rule for citizenship after the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision denied citizenship to Black Americans. The states’ brief points to United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898), in which the Supreme Court held that a child born in the United States is a citizen at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment, with narrow historical exceptions such as children of diplomats. The coalition argues that because Congress has also codified birthright citizenship in federal law, an executive order cannot override either the Constitution or statutes passed by Congress.
New Jersey said it also helped lead earlier multistate litigation that blocked the executive order from taking effect nationwide through court orders, including classwide injunctive relief. The Supreme Court is now considering the order’s legality in the class-action case, and court materials indicate that oral argument is scheduled for April 1, 2026. According to New Jersey, the coalition includes Washington, Massachusetts, California, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin, along with the City and County of San Francisco.
The Supreme Court’s eventual ruling in Trump v. Barbara could determine whether the executive order can take effect and whether the longstanding legal understanding of birthright citizenship remains in place. For New Jersey, officials say the stakes extend beyond the status of future U.S.-born children and into the operation, administration, and funding of programs that serve families across the state.