UNITED STATES-Legal groups file lawsuit against Trump’s new birthright citizenship order.

CONCORD, CMC – The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) says it and other legal groups that recently secured a major United States Supreme Court victory on behalf of Caribbean and other babies who would have been denied citizenship under a previous Trump executive order are asking a federal district court to ensure those children remain protected from the president’s latest attempt to restrict birthright citizenship.

The ACLU said on Wednesday that the US Supreme Court handed the civil and legal rights organizations a “resounding win” on June 30 in Trump v. Barbara, when it struck down the president’s order that “sought to undo this fundamental constitutional protection.”

On August 6, Trump signed a new executive order again targeting birthright citizenship.

The ACLU said it, the ACLU of New Hampshire, the ACLU of Maine, the ACLU of Massachusetts, the Legal Defense Fund, the Asian Law Caucus, and the Democracy Defenders Fund had successfully argued the Barbara case.

On Tuesday, the ACLU said the organizations asked a federal district court in Concord, New Hampshire, to “make it unquestionably clear that the citizenship of babies covered by that class-action lawsuit is protected despite this new executive order.”

The ACLU noted that, in its June ruling, the US Supreme Court confirmed that the Constitution’s Citizenship Clause puts “the question of citizenship ‘once and forever [to] rest’.”

In their motion filed in the New Hampshire federal court, where the lawsuit was first filed, the legal groups wrote that the Supreme Court had confirmed there were no additional exceptions beyond those recognized in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 US 649 (1898), and that the 14th Amendment is not subject to executive or legislative revision.

“President Trump’s continued resistance to that principle calls for this Court’s renewed intervention,” they added.

Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project and lead counsel, said, “President Trump may not like the fact that birthright citizenship is a constitutional right, and he may not like that he lost in the Supreme Court, but that is really beside the point.

“It’s well past time for these illegal and cruel attacks on children’s citizenship to end.”

SangYeob Kim, director of the ACLU-NH Immigrants’ Rights Project, said, “Birthright citizenship is the law of the land – period. Cruel attacks on this core constitutional right must not be allowed to stand.”

Molly Curren Rowles, executive director of ACLU of Maine, said the US Supreme Court reaffirmed the Constitution’s plain language in June, making it clear that neither the president nor Congress can end birthright citizenship.

“We’ll continue defending the Constitution and the core principles reflected in the 14th Amendment: that with few exceptions, every baby born on US soil is a US citizen,” she said.

Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, said Trump’s executive orders are “a ham-handed attempt to distract the American people from the Supreme Court’s clear holding: that birthright citizenship is protected by our Constitution.”

“We’ll stay in court for as long as it takes to secure peace of mind for our clients and ensure that babies born on US soil have their rights as guaranteed under US law,” she added.

Amia Trigg, deputy director of litigation at the Legal Defense Fund, said the US Supreme Court “could not have been clearer: President Trump’s attempt to redefine who is an American citizen through executive action was unconstitutional.

“Now, the president is trying to double down on his illegal attack on this constitutional protection,” she said. “We will not stand idly by as the executive branch blatantly ignores the court’s authority in its crusade against American children.”

Aarti Kohli, executive director of the Asian Law Caucus, said Trump’s latest executive order is “a desperate and brazen attempt to bypass the Supreme Court’s decision and expand a very narrow set of exceptions to the 14th Amendment.

“As the court has already affirmed, it’s the Constitution, not the president, who determines who is American and who gets a say in our democracy,” she said. “Americans are struggling to put food on the table and pay their bills, and this administration is just throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks.

“Immigrant communities know that our rights are on the line, especially when the government uses us as scapegoats,” Kohli added. “The Trump administration already lost once, and it will lose again.”

Norm Eisen, co-founder and executive chair of Democracy Defenders Fund, said Trump’s latest attempt to chip away at birthright citizenship is “as constitutionally futile as it is cruel.”

“We’ve seen this strategy from this administration before, and the courts have repeatedly made it clear that the 14th Amendment cannot be rewritten by executive fiat,” he said. “We are filing this motion to ensure that the protections currently shielding our clients remain intact – we will not let the administration use babies as pawns in a political stunt like this.”

Trump said his new executive order would deny birthright citizenship to children born to foreign government employees, “alien enemies” and so-called “birth tourists.”

“The privilege of United States citizenship remains a priceless and profound gift,” he said. “Since my first day in office, my administration has guarded against the risks posed by malign foreign actors who attempt to swindle American citizens by taking advantage of the generosity of our nation.”

A US Department of Justice (DOJ) spokesperson said in a statement that the DOJ is “confident in the lawful authority underlying President Trump’s Executive Orders on birthright citizenship and birth tourism, and will vigorously defend them in court.”

“DOJ will always defend the President’s authority to protect the integrity of American citizenship,” the spokesperson said.