ACLU blasts Trump’s new orders on birthright citizenship, saying they are doomed to fail in court– as it happened
ACLU Warns Trump's Birthright Citizenship Orders Face Certain Legal Defeat
Wanderstayfinder.com – The American Civil Liberties Union has issued a sharp rebuke of President Donald Trump's latest executive actions targeting birthright citizenship, predicting these measures will inevitably fail when challenged in federal courts. The civil liberties organization expressed particular skepticism regarding the legal foundation of Trump's attempts to restrict citizenship for children born on American soil to non-citizen parents, noting that the president is essentially trying to circumvent a recent Supreme Court ruling.
These new executive orders arrive barely five weeks after the nation's highest court invalidated a similar directive Trump had issued the previous year. In a formal statement addressing the matter, the ACLU characterized the president's efforts as an unsuccessful attempt to bypass judicial precedent. The organization's deputy director for the Immigrants' Rights Project, Cody Wofsy, emphasized the constitutional clarity of the situation.
"The Supreme Court already decided this issue: Birthright citizenship is guaranteed by the Constitution. No additional executive order can change the meaning of the Constitution," Wofsy stated. "Any executive order that tries to rewrite birthright citizenship will meet the same fate as the last one."
Historical Context of the Constitutional Guarantee
The legal foundation for birthright citizenship traces back to the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868, which established that all persons born in the United States are citizens. This constitutional provision has remained largely unchallenged for over a century, providing citizenship to millions of Americans whose parents were immigrants, refugees, or visitors. The amendment's Citizenship Clause has been interpreted by legal scholars and courts to mean that place of birth, rather than parental nationality, determines citizenship status.
Trump's latest orders, signed on Thursday, specifically target what the administration has termed "birth tourists"—foreign nationals who travel to the United States primarily to give birth so their children can obtain American citizenship. The two executive directives represent Trump's continued effort to reshape immigration policy through administrative action rather than through the more cumbersome process of constitutional amendment or congressional legislation.
A Decade-Long Campaign Against Birthright Citizenship
The president's current efforts are part of a broader political campaign spanning more than ten years. During a 2015 presidential campaign event in Orlando, Florida, Trump first articulated his vision for ending what he described as the problem of "anchor babies"—a term critics argue carries derogatory connotations for children of undocumented immigrants born in the United States.
"You can't come into the country- you're illegal, you come down, you sit down, you have your baby, and we take care of the baby for the next 85 years!" Trump declared at the 2015 event. "Everybody says, 'Well, you need a constitutional amendment; it'll take 15 years; it'll never happen'. You don't, you don't. You need a simple act of Congress. You might not even need that."
Three years later, while serving as president, Trump told journalist Jonathan Swan in a televised interview that he intended to issue an executive order instructing federal agencies that children born in the United States to non-citizens would not automatically receive citizenship. The interview excerpt, published online on October 30, 2018, captured Trump's confidence that executive action alone could override constitutional interpretation.
Political Fallout in Tennessee
Meanwhile, political developments in Tennessee have drawn attention as Congressman Andy Ogles faces potential defeat in his Republican primary race. Despite receiving Trump's explicit endorsement on Thursday, the Tennessee Republican appears to be trailing his primary challenger, Charlie Hatcher, a former state agriculture commissioner, by more than five percentage points with nearly three-quarters of votes counted.
Trump took to his social media platform to rally support for Ogles, writing: "Congressman Andy Ogles is doing a fantastic job representing the incredible people of Tennessee's 5th Congressional District! Andy Ogles my Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election. Election Day for the Republican Primary is TODAY. GET OUT AND VOTE FOR ANDY."
An Ogles loss would mark the second Trump-backed candidate to fall in a Republican primary this week, potentially signaling voter dissatisfaction with the president's influence on local races. Ogles, known for his strong positions on immigration and his anti-Muslim advocacy, has been a vocal supporter of Trump's immigration agenda.
Broader Implications
The timing of these developments is significant. Trump has also refused to confirm a Washington Post report suggesting he told donors at a recent meeting that they should help Senator JD Vance secure the 2028 presidential election. This revelation adds another layer to the political landscape as the president begins positioning for his potential return to office.
Legal experts anticipate that the ACLU and other civil liberties organizations will mount vigorous challenges to the new executive orders. The Supreme Court's previous rejection of a similar directive suggests that the judiciary remains skeptical of attempts to use executive power to alter constitutional rights without proper legislative or amendment processes.
This concludes our coverage of the second Trump administration for the day, with 897 updates remaining to track.
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