Attorneys general from 22 states filed a lawsuit Jan. 21 challenging US President Donald Trump's executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship. Central to the lawsuit is the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, which states that "[a[ll persons born or naturalized in the United States...are citizens of the United States..." The clause was last interpreted by the Supreme Court in 1898 in United States v. Wong Kim Ark as granting citizenship to all babies born in the country. The US follows the jus soli (right of the soil) principle, conferring citizenship based on birth within the country's territory, as opposed to the jus sanguinis (right of blood) principle, which confers citizenship based on whether at least one parent is a citizen.

Certain countries follow a mixed approach, such as Canada which primarily follows the jus soli principle but has certain exceptions, and India which primarily follows the jus sanguinis principle but with certain exceptions.

The coalition of attorneys general, representing states including Massachusetts, Illinois and New York, argue in the lawsuit that Trump's executive order undermines constitutional principles and threatens to create a class of stateless individuals born within the United States. The Trump administration said it is willing to fight the lawsuit in court and is arguing that the original intent of the Fourteenth Amendment was not to grant automatic citizenship to the children of unauthorized immigrants. This all comes as Trump has vowed to carry out the "largest domestic deportation operation in American history."

Critics of the executive order argue that Trump's proposal is not only legally dubious but also contrary to American values, with Omar Jadwat, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Immigrants Rights Project, stated: "This is a transparent and blatantly unconstitutional attempt to sow division and fan the flames of anti-immigrant hatred in the days ahead of the midterms." The ACLU and several other rights organizations challenged the same executive order late Jan. 20, hours after it was issued.

The executive order is currently set to go into effect on Feb. 19.

From JURIST, Jan. 21. Used wit permission.