Washington, DC – On Tuesday, August 11th, 2026, rights organizations launched a legal challenge against United States President Donald Trump’s recent attempts to limit birthright citizenship. The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in New Hampshire.

The challenge comes days after Trump signed two executive orders seeking to expand narrow exceptions within the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, which currently excludes certain categories of individuals from automatic citizenship at birth. Trump's administration argued that the original intent of the 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, was to grant citizenship primarily to children of newly freed slaves, not to all born on US soil.

The groups involved in the lawsuit include the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Legal Defense Fund, Asian Law Caucus, and Democracy Defenders Fund. These organizations had previously defeated Trump’s broader efforts to end birthright citizenship at the US Supreme Court earlier this year.

Amia Trigg, deputy director of litigation at the Legal Defense Fund, stated, “The Supreme Court could not have been more clear: President Trump’s attempt to redefine who is an American citizen through executive action was unconstitutional.”

Aarti Kohli, executive director of the Asian Law Caucus, criticized the administration’s approach, saying it “is just throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks.”

The Supreme Court’s June ruling upheld the longstanding practice of birthright citizenship, reinforcing protections under the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment.

Sources