Washington, DC – On Tuesday, August 11th, 2026, rights organizations launched a legal challenge against United States President Donald Trump’s latest attempts to restrict birthright citizenship for infants born in the country. This move comes shortly after Trump signed two executive orders seeking to expand narrow categories within the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment that exclude some individuals from automatic citizenship at birth.

The groups involved, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Legal Defense Fund, Asian Law Caucus, and Democracy Defenders Fund, had previously defeated Trump’s broader efforts to end birthright citizenship at the US Supreme Court. They argue that the Supreme Court’s June ruling, which struck down Trump’s earlier attempt to limit birthright citizenship, prevents any revision of the current exceptions under both the Constitution and prior court decisions.

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.”

Lawyers for the Trump administration contend that birthright citizenship has been misinterpreted since the 1868 ratification of the 14th Amendment, asserting that it was intended to guarantee citizenship only to children of newly freed slaves, not to everyone born in the country.

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 legal challenge was filed in a federal court in New Hampshire, marking the latest development in an ongoing dispute over the interpretation of birthright citizenship in the United States.

Sources