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A federal judge in Seattle will hear a request on Thursday from four states—Washington, Arizona, Illinois, and Oregon—seeking to temporarily halt President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship in the United States.
The request asks for the executive order, signed by Trump on Monday, to be paused while the federal court considers the states’ broader legal challenge. This marks the first court hearing on the controversial order, which seeks to end the constitutional right to citizenship for children born in the U.S. to parents who are in the country illegally or temporarily.
The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which enshrines birthright citizenship, states that all persons born or naturalised in the United States and “subject to its jurisdiction” are citizens. The states argue in their lawsuit that this provision guarantees citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil and that the president lacks the authority to alter the Constitution unilaterally.
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The lawsuit further claims that implementing the executive order would cause “immediate and irreparable harm” to residents, rendering many individuals stateless and at risk of detention or deportation.
Trump’s order, set to apply to children born on or after February 19, directs federal agencies to deny citizenship to children of migrants unlawfully or temporarily in the U.S. Reports suggest that enforcement could involve withholding essential documents, such as passports, from individuals deemed ineligible for citizenship.
The Department of Justice (DoJ), defending the executive order, argues that the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” in the 14th Amendment excludes children of non-citizens in the U.S. unlawfully. The DoJ describes the order as part of Trump’s broader effort to address immigration challenges and the crisis at the southern border.
The challenge by Washington, Arizona, Illinois, and Oregon is one of two major lawsuits against the order. A separate legal action has been filed by 18 Democratic-led states, the District of Columbia, and the city of San Francisco. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is also contesting the order in court.
State attorneys general, some of whom are birthright citizens themselves, have called the issue personal and argue that the Constitution clearly protects this right. William Tong, Connecticut’s attorney general, stated, “There is no legitimate legal debate on this question.”
The stakes are high, with the states noting that thousands could be affected by the order. According to their lawsuit, 255,000 children were born to undocumented mothers in the U.S. in 2022 alone.
Legal experts widely agree that the issue will likely be decided by the courts, as altering the Constitution requires a two-thirds vote in Congress and ratification by three-fourths of the states. Judge John Coughenour, a Reagan appointee serving in the Western District of Washington since 1981, will preside over Thursday’s hearing.
