On Tuesday, August 11, 2026, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) initiated its first legal challenge against President Trump’s new executive order that restricts birthright citizenship. The ACLU is asking a federal judge to rule that Trump cannot use this order to deny citizenship to children who would have qualified under his original Day 1 plan, which the Supreme Court previously ruled unconstitutional.

Trump’s new executive order, announced last week, narrows the scope of his initial proposal by denying citizenship only to children born to foreign government employees, alien enemies, and so-called birth tourists. This contrasts with the original plan that sought to deny citizenship to babies without at least one parent holding U.S. citizenship or permanent legal status.

Cody Wofsy, lead counsel on the case and deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, stated, “President Trump may not like the fact that birthright citizenship is a constitutional right, and he may not like that he lost in the Supreme Court, but that is really beside the point. It’s well past time for these illegal and cruel attacks on children’s citizenship to end.”

The ACLU’s motion emphasizes that the government should not be allowed to strip citizenship through executive orders or other executive actions, urging the court to reaffirm this principle. The Supreme Court’s formal judgment on the original case was only recently returned to the appeals court after a waiting period expired earlier in August.

The Hill has reached out to the Justice Department for comment on the ongoing legal dispute.

Sources