Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today joined 27 colleagues in calling on the Supreme Court to protect birthright citizenship by striking down Donald Trump’s unconstitutional attempts to roll back a 150-year-old precedent.
“Children born in this country have only called the United States their home, and they are no different than any other U.S. citizen,” Wyden said. “The Supreme Court must uphold the U.S. Constitution and long-settled precedent to stop Donald Trump’s fascist fever dream from ripping away the citizenship of children born in America.”
“The Constitution is clear: every child born in the United States is an American citizen. It’s critical that the Supreme Court uphold this promise,” Merkley said. “The 14th Amendment guarantees birthright citizenship, and more than a century of Supreme Court precedent backs it up. Instead of endorsing a haphazard, patchwork approach, in which citizenship depends on the Trump Administration’s whims and not the Constitution, the Court must reaffirm this fundamental principle.”
In Trump v Barbara, Wyden and Merkley signed an amicus brief, underscoring that Trump’s executive order to strip automatic citizenship from children born in the United States violates the Constitution, more than a century of Supreme Court rulings, and laws enacted by Congress.
The amicus brief was led by U.S. Senators Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill. Joining Wyden and Merkley, the amicus brief was also signed by Senators Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Patty Murray, D-Wash., Michael Bennet, D-Colo., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Chris Coons, D-Del., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., John Fetterman, D-Pa., Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., Mazie Hirono, D-Hawai’i, Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., Alex Padilla, D-Calif., Jack Reed, D-R.I., Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Tina Smith, D-Minn., Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.
The full amicus brief is here.
A web version of this release is here.
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