Birthright Citizenship: A Constitutional promise, not a presidential privilege

President Donald J. Trump attended the Supreme Court last week as the solicitor general defended his Executive Order 14160, “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship.” He left the building before attorney Cecillia Wang of the ACLU argued on behalf of the plaintiffs in Trump v. Barbara.

Leaving the legalese aside, Trump’s executive order strips birthright citizenship from Americans born to undocumented parents.

The administration claims that children of undocumented immigrants, temporary visitors and other non-citizens fall outside the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States.

In response, Wang said: “All of us born in this country are Americans, as guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. That is the principle we defended before the United States Supreme Court today,” according to the ACLU. She called the executive order “unlawful” and “un-American,” and expects the Court to reject it.

If the Court upholds Trump’s order, it would all but erase Section 1 of the 14th Amendment. When Congress passed the amendment in 1866, and the states ratified it in 1868, they enshrined citizenship for all born or naturalized in the United States, according to the National Archives.

To grasp its true significance, recall that the 14th Amendment stands alongside the 13th and 15th amendments as a foundation of civil rights. Together, these Reconstruction amendments abolished slavery, guaranteed citizenship and equal protection, and banned racial discrimination in voting, forging a new promise of equality for Black Americans.

This significance is further stressed by the fact that the 14th Amendment overturned the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) ruling, in which the Court, by a 7-2 decision, held that African Americans – whether enslaved or free – were not citizens under the U.S. Constitution and thus could not sue in federal court. The decision also infamously stated that Black people “had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.”

Trump’s modus operandi is to use the courts to get his way. However, now, the worm has turned. As of early 2026, the second Trump administration has faced over 600 to 700 lawsuits, with trackers identifying hundreds of active challenges to executive actions on immigration, environmental regulations and government efficiency efforts. These lawsuits include over 100 filed by Democratic state attorneys general.

Against this backdrop, Trump may find the Supreme Court less receptive than he hopes. Last week, most associate justices pressed Solicitor General D. John Sauer with tough questions, signaling deep skepticism about ending birthright citizenship and stripping millions of American-born citizens of their 14th Amendment rights.

Repeating this skepticism, civil rights leaders have called Trump’s executive order “an unlawful attempt to rewrite the Constitution,” and emphasized that the order would disproportionately harm “children and families of color.”

As these debates intensify, the Constitution’s promise that all born here are citizens is in the hands of America’s highest court.

The Supreme Court faces a life-altering decision. Will the justices stand by the 14th Amendment of the Constitution? Or will they uphold Trump’s executive order, which will require a lengthy process to amend a Constitutional Amendment, to act on Trump’s executive order? Congressional approval, and allow Trump to get the consent of 28 states and voters?

Trump’s order expands his political power and allows him to choose who is a citizen and who isn’t.

That is exactly what the 14th Amendment was designed to prevent: political manipulation of citizenship.

In these unsettled times, the stakes are not just legal but civic. We have to stay woke and informed, and ready to act. The 14th Amendment’s promise has endured past assaults because people stood up to defend it.

We must do the same today.

This article originally published in the April 6, 2026 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.