Maryland Attorney General Joins Supreme Court Defense of Birthright Citizenship

According to a press release from the Maryland Attorney General’s office, Attorney General Anthony G. Brown is part of a multistate coalition that has submitted a brief to the Supreme Court of the United States, advocating for the preservation of birthright citizenship. This action comes in response to an executive order issued by President Trump on his first day in office, which sought to end birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to immigrant parents. The coalition argues that this executive order contravenes the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and federal law, and if allowed to stand, would have severe negative consequences for children and states nationwide.

The legal challenge to President Trump’s executive order began with lawsuits filed in federal courts in Washington and Massachusetts, where preliminary injunctions were successfully obtained, preventing the order from taking effect. The Supreme Court is now considering the validity of this order in the case Barbara v. Trump, which was brought by a group of children who would be stripped of their citizenship. The amici curiae brief, signed by 24 attorneys general, aims to demonstrate how the executive order violates constitutional clauses, established Supreme Court precedents, and the Immigration and Nationality Act. The brief also details the significant harms that states and their residents would endure if birthright citizenship were to be overturned.

Birthright citizenship, a principle that has been recognized for over 150 years, grants citizenship to all individuals born within the United States, irrespective of their parents’ immigration status. This right was reaffirmed after the Civil War with the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment, which aimed to secure citizenship for all born or naturalized in the country. The U.S. Supreme Court has consistently upheld this principle, and Congress has codified it into law on two separate occasions, in 1940 and 1952. The executive order, if it were to be enforced, would mark the first time since the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment that children born in the U.S. would be denied citizenship based on their parents’ status.

The implications for children affected by such an order would be profound. Thousands of babies born each year who would otherwise be citizens would lose their fundamental rights and face the constant threat of deportation. Some of these children could be rendered stateless, lacking any country to claim them. They would be ineligible for crucial federal services and programs, including those related to healthcare and education. As they grow older, they would be unable to obtain Social Security numbers or work legally, and their right to vote and participate fully in civic life would be extinguished. This would prevent a significant number of children from fully integrating into American society and enjoying the benefits and privileges of citizenship.

Beyond the direct harm to children, the executive order would also impose considerable financial and administrative burdens on states. States could lose significant federal funding for essential programs such as Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, as eligibility for these programs is often tied to citizenship status. Furthermore, state agencies would be compelled to undertake costly and complex modifications to their benefit program operations and administration to accommodate the new restrictions. This would strain the resources of multiple agencies responsible for delivering services to state residents. The potential for the administration to expand the scope of such an order to question the citizenship of individuals already recognized as citizens, including those who gained it decades ago, adds another layer of alarm to the situation.

In addition to Maryland, the brief was joined by the attorneys general of New Jersey, Washington, Massachusetts, California, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin, along with the city of San Francisco.

Article by Mel Anara, based upon information from the Maryland Attorney General’s Office.

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