On January 20, 2025, one of the first actions Donald Trump took after inauguration was to issue an executive order denying birthright citizenship to children born to undocumented parents or whose parents are in the country on temporary status. The very next day, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell, and California Attorney General Rob Bonta co-led a coalition of 19 attorneys general in filing a federal lawsuit in Massachusetts challenging Donald Trump’s executive order attempting to unilaterally strip citizenship from Americans across the United States. The AGs stood up against Donald Trump’s attempt to unilaterally strip citizenship from Americans across the United States, arguing that it violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution as well as federal statute.

The AGs sued to protect their states and residents against myriad harms that would flow from stripping citizenship from more than 150,000 newborn babies a year. The children whose citizenship would be stripped by the executive order would lose their most basic rights, such as the right to vote, serve on juries, obtain a Social Security number, and to one day work lawfully in this country, and they would be at risk for deportation.

In addition to the potential harm to their state residents, the order would harm the states themselves. States administer numerous programs for the benefit of their residents, some of which are funded by federal dollars tied to the citizenship of the individuals served. These programs include Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and foster care and adoption programs. Federal funding for these programs hinges on the immigration status of the residents being served; stripping citizenship from these individuals would deny states funds to assist them, causing significant financial harm.

A nationwide federal injunction was issued with the court finding that the states, as funders of key programs, were likely to suffer irreparable economic harm without preliminary relief.

On May 15, 2025, the Supreme Court heard arguments on three birthright citizenship cases in which lower courts had issued injunctions that nationally halted the executive order. The Supreme Court issued a decision on the question of nationwide injunctions finding that they “likely exceed the equitable authority that Congress has granted to federal courts.” The Supreme Court instructed the lower court to review the injunction to determine if a narrower injunction is appropriate. The lower court must determine if the states can obtain “complete relief” with an injunction that is only enforced in the named plaintiff states or if an injunction that is enforced in all 50 states is appropriate. The Supreme Court ordered a 30-day stay before the birthright citizenship executive order could go into effect and the Trump administration’s lawyers confirmed the administration would not enforce the executive order before July 27. The attorneys general continued to argue for an injunction that is enforced in all 50 states, arguing that a patchwork of injunctions would be unworkable and create administrative chaos and harm to families throughout the country. The Supreme Court did not address the question of whether Donald Trump’s executive order is constitutional.

On July 25, 2025, the district court judge reaffirmed his earlier nationwide injunction against the birthright policy. He stated that the nationwide injunction could not be narrowed in a way that would “feasibly and adequately protect” against the harms that more than a dozen state attorneys general, the District of Columbia, and several cities said would befall them if the policy could be enforced even partially. Further, the judge repeated his conclusion that Donald Trump’s executive order “is unconstitutional and contrary to a federal statute.” With the reaffirmation of the injunction, the Trump administration was unable to begin enforcement of the executive order on July 27, 2025, following the 30-day stay ordered by the Supreme Court.

Birthright citizenship in our country is a guarantee of equality, born out of a collective fight against oppression, slavery and its devastating harms. It is a settled right in our Constitution and recognized by the Supreme Court for more than a century. President Trump does not have the authority to take away constitutional rights, and we will fight against his effort to overturn our Constitution and punish innocent babies born in Massachusetts. Attorney General Andrea Campbell