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Press Release:

Attor­ney Gen­er­al Tong Sues to Block Uncon­sti­tu­tion­al Attack on Birthright Cit­i­zen­ship

Precipitating Event:

Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump signed Exec­u­tive Order (E.O.) 14160 on Jan. 20, 2025, the first day of his sec­ond pres­i­den­tial term on with the inten­tion of end­ing birthright cit­i­zen­ship in the U.S. This right has been enshrined in the Con­sti­tu­tion since the the adop­tion of the 14th Amend­ment. Accord­ing to the EO, “the Four­teenth Amend­ment has nev­er been inter­pret­ed to extend cit­i­zen­ship uni­ver­sal­ly to every­one born with­in the Unit­ed States. The Four­teenth Amend­ment has always exclud­ed from birthright cit­i­zen­ship per­sons who were born in the Unit­ed States but not ‘sub­ject to the juris­dic­tion there­of’.” The order stat­ed that the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment would no longer rec­og­nize the cit­i­zen­ship of those born in the coun­try to nonci­t­i­zen par­ents 30 days after the order was issued on Feb. 19, 2025.

General Overview:

Accord­ing to the press release from Jan. 21, 2025, “…Attor­ney Gen­er­al William Tong and the attor­neys gen­er­al of 17 oth­er states, the Dis­trict of Colum­bia and the City of San Fran­cis­co sued Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump in the U.S. Dis­trict Court for the Dis­trict of Mass­a­chu­setts, chal­leng­ing the law­less exec­u­tive order end­ing birthright cit­i­zen­ship, evis­cer­at­ing clear con­sti­tu­tion­al rights to which all chil­dren born in the U.S. are enti­tled.“
The plain­tiffs claimed the EO vio­lates the 14th Amend­ment of the Con­sti­tu­tion and Sec­tion 1401 of the Immi­gra­tion and Nation­al­i­ty Act of 1952, which states “person(s) born in the Unit­ed States, and sub­ject to the juris­dic­tion there­of shall be nation­als and cit­i­zens of the Unit­ed States at birth.”

Connecticut Nexus:

Accord­ing to the press release, if upheld, 7,400 babies born each year in Con­necti­cut would no longer be cit­i­zens if born here to nonci­t­i­zen par­ents.

Date of filing:

Jan. 21, 2025

Case #:

1:25-cv-10139

Case Title:

State of New Jer­sey et al v. Trump et al

Plaintiffs: 18 states, D.C. and San Francisco

• STATE OF NEW JERSEY;
• COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS;
• STATE OF CALIFORNIA;
• STATE OF COLORADO;
• STATE OF CONNECTICUT;
• STATE OF DELAWARE;
• DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA;
• STATE OF HAWAI‘I;
• STATE OF MAINE;
• STATE OF MARYLAND;
• ATTORNEY GENERAL DANA NESSEL FOR THE PEOPLE OF MICHIGAN;
• STATE OF MINNESOTA;
• STATE OF NEVADA;
• STATE OF NEW MEXICO;
• STATE OF NEW YORK;
• STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA;
• STATE OF RHODE ISLAND;
• STATE OF VERMONT;
• STATE OF WISCONSIN;
• CITY & COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO

Defendants:

• DONALD J. TRUMP, in his offi­cial capac­i­ty as Pres­i­dent of the Unit­ed States;
• U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE;
• MARCO RUBIO, in his offi­cial capac­i­ty as Sec­re­tary of State;
• U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY;
• BENJAMINE HUFFMAN, in his offi­cial capac­i­ty as Act­ing Sec­re­tary of Home­land Secu­ri­ty;
• U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES;
• DOROTHY FINK, in her offi­cial capac­i­ty as Act­ing Sec­re­tary of Health and Human Ser­vices;
• U.S. SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION;
• MICHELLE KING, in her offi­cial capac­i­ty as Act­ing Com­mis­sion­er of U.S. Social Secu­ri­ty Admin­is­tra­tion;
• UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Court:

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS

Related Case #(‘s):

1:25-cv-10135-LTS

Status as of Dec. 1, 2025:

OPEN
Last fil­ing: Nov. 25, 2025

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