Attorney General Bonta and 19 Attorneys General Issue Statement on Supreme Court Birthright Citizenship Oral Arguments

WASHINGTON, D.C. – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today, alongside a coalition of 19 attorneys general, issued a joint statement following U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments on President Trump’s unconstitutional executive order on birthright citizenship: 

“We were proud to stand together to defend birthright citizenship and the rule of law at the U.S. Supreme Court today. For 127 years, since the Supreme Court settled the issue, the law has been clear: if you are born in this country, you are a citizen of the United States and of our States. Administrations of both parties have consistently respected that right ever since. As every court to have considered the policy agrees, the President’s attempt to end birthright citizenship is patently unconstitutional. The Trump Administration’s argument before the Supreme Court today—that the President should be permitted to strip American citizenship from people based solely on the state in which they happen to be born—would upend settled law and settled practice and would produce widespread chaos and disruption. The President cannot rewrite the Constitution and contradict the Supreme Court’s own holdings with the stroke of a pen.”

Joining Attorney General Bonta in issuing the statement are the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia.

On January 21, 2025, Attorney General Bonta co-led a multistate coalition in filing a lawsuit challenging the President’s unconstitutional executive order terminating birthright citizenship. The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts subsequently granted a preliminary injunction barring the order from going into effect. The U.S. Supreme Court today heard oral arguments about whether the scope of the nationwide injunction we secured blocking the executive order from taking effect is legal and justified.   

“The rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution belong to everyone in this country — not just those born in states whose attorneys general have stood up to challenge the President’s unlawful executive order. It’s clear that a nationwide injunction is not only appropriate here to avoid devastating harm to the states and their residents, but is also directly aligned with prior Supreme Court precedent,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Today’s oral arguments are one step in this important case’s progress — but it’s far from the end of the road. We’ll continue to be here, every step of the way, fighting to uphold and protect the constitutional right to birthright citizenship.”