Supreme Court hearing Attorney General Ellison’s challenge to Trump’s birthright citizenship order
April 1, 2026 (SAINT PAUL) — This morning, as the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on legal challenges to President Trump’s executive order purporting to end birthright citizenship, Attorney General Ellison joined a coalition of 24 attorneys general in making the following statement:
“The President’s executive order redefining birthright citizenship violates our Constitution, federal statutes, and the rule that has governed our Nation for more than 150 years. We were proud to lead the fight against this unlawful order, and grateful for the injunctions we obtained that prevented this action from ever taking effect. We are optimistic the U.S. Supreme Court will agree with every judge to consider this executive order on the merits and hold that it violates this fundamental constitutional right.”
On January 21, 2025, the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration, Attorney General Ellison and a coalition of other attorneys general filed a lawsuit challenging Donald Trump’s executive order purporting to end birthright citizenship. Birthright citizenship is guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Section 1401 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed in a landmark ruling called Wong Kim Ark vs. U.S. in 1898. The 2025 lawsuit that Attorney General Ellison and the coalition filed is one of a number of legal challenges to Trump’s executive order that were consolidated and are being heard before the Supreme Court this morning. Every lower court that has heard a challenged Trump’s executive order to date has found it unconstitutional.
In addition to Attorney General Ellison, the statement was released by the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai'i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.
