SOCIAL JUSTICE BLOG
Read and share extraordinary stories from the frontlines of social change
History of Birthright Citizenship: A Founding Principle of the U.S.
The Supreme Court will likely rule on Barbara v. Trump in the next few weeks. This ruling may terminate birthright citizenship, a vital right that has protected the rights of children born in the U.S. since the country’s founding.
This blog post explores the history of birthright citizenship and the 14th amendment.
Birthright Citizenship: America’s Founding Promise Under Threat
On January 20th, 2025, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 14160, titled “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship,” aiming to end birthright citizenship. In response, numerous civil rights groups, including the ACLU, the Asian Law Caucus, and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, filed a class action lawsuit named Barbara v. Trump. The lawsuit, one of many pending cases on the issue, argues that EO 14160 is incongruent with the history and text of the 14th Amendment, Supreme Court case law, federal statute, and the understanding and practice of all three branches of the federal government for more than a hundred years.