(The Center Square) – Democratic attorneys general from California and other states are applauding the U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding birthright citizenship.
In Trump v. Barbara, justices ruled 6-3 that children born in the U.S. to parents who are here illegally or temporarily are subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. and therefore citizens at birth under the 14th Amendment. The decision was announced Tuesday morning. Birthright citizenship has been supported by Democrats and immigrants' advocates, but has faced opposition from Republicans and organizations such as the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
President Donald Trump sought to end birthright citizenship, as it's currently defined, under an executive order. That set the stage for legal challenges. Trump's order was blocked from taking effect by a multi-state lawsuit filed by Democratic attorneys generals. The case ended up at the U.S. Supreme Court, where California Attorney General Rob Bonta was in the audience on April 1. So was Trump, who at that moment became the first sitting president to attend the court's oral arguments.
"I saw President Trump sit in the same row I was in and listen to what would become his ultimate defeat,” Bonta said during Tuesday’s virtual press conference with other Democratic attorneys general. “He bore witness to his own defeat."
Like his colleagues, Bonta said, “No president can erase constitutional rights by executive order,” and no president is above the Constitution.
“The U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed a basic principle, that the Constitution, not any president, governs this country,” said Bonta. “The president is not a king."
New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport noted no one is above the law, not even the president of the United States.
‘When you violate the Constitution in ways that harm us and our residents, state attorneys general will take you to court,” said Davenport. “And just like today, an overwhelming number of times in the last 18 months, we will win."
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell agreed. Campbell told reporters that “Democratic AGs are on the front lines in everything” now.
“And I would add that we are, I think, the greatest elected weapon to fight back against an administration that continually breaks the law, continually seeks to undermine it,” said Campbell. "If a president can erase the 14th Amendment with the stroke of a pen, then no constitutional protection is truly safe.”
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong told a story about how he is the son of immigrants and has been an American since his birth.
“When I was born, one thing was certain, that I was an American, by right of my birth on American soil, by operation of the 14th Amendment and the Citizenship Clause,” said Tong.
During the press conference's questions-and-answers period, The Center Square asked Bonta whether Tuesday’s ruling sets a precedent that would prevent a future president from issuing an executive order that might limit or ignore something such as the Second Amendment.
“I don't think there's any precedent being set today,” said Bonta. “The Constitution is always the most powerful document in our nation, and people can't break it, including the president, so, the Constitution has many articles, many sections, many clauses, and they're all not subject to unilateral rewriting by a president.”
Bonta added that there is a process set forth in the Constitution for how you amend it.
“You need to get two-thirds of each House, three-fourths of the states to ratify,” said Bonta. “That's how you amend, and today was a reaffirmation of that long-standing, enduring principle as it applies to a president who tried to rewrite the U.S. Constitution with the stroke of his pen on day one of his presidency and has been struck down every step of the way, including by the highest court in the world.”
Tong spoke up moments later by saying that “nobody has tried to erase the Second Amendment,” adding that if a Democratic president did that, people would be upset.
“They would lose their minds, but that's what he was trying to do here with the 14th Amendment,” said Tong.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, both Democrats, issued statements praising the ruling, with Newsom calling birthright citizenship a "constitutional guarantee." Mayes said she is “proud” to have brought this case alongside her fellow attorneys general.
One organization that was disappointed with the ruling is the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
Media Director Ira Mehlman said it would have been better if the court had looked at the question of what it means to be “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States in the way the framers intended.
“If you go back and you read the debates that took place in the 1860s, they were very clear about who it meant to be applied to and who it didn't and as a matter of fact, American Indians did not acquire birthright citizenship until the 1920s because the people who framed the 14th Amendment did not consider them to be subject to the jurisdiction of the United States," Mehlman told The Center Square.
In a post on social media, Trump wrote that the ruling was “too bad for our country,” but went on to say that things can be done in Congress through legislation.
“No long and unwieldy Constitutional Amendment is necessary!” Trump posted. “Congress should start TODAY to work on ending expensive and unfair to our Country, Birthright Citizenship. They will have my Complete and Total Support!"
Without a constitutional amendment, any legislation passed by Congress could be declared unconstitutional if future justices upheld Tuesday's ruling. But Congress could start efforts on a constitutional amendment if it chose to do so.
Meanwhile, at the Capitol in Sacramento, Democrats in the California Legislature praised the ruling.
"I think that that's a positive result for immigrant communities. I am a child of immigrants that came here undocumented, and today, I'm a citizen, and today, the Supreme Court reaffirmed that," Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria, D-Fresno, told The Center Square.
Assemblymember Alex Lee, D-Milipitas, said he was happy that the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Constitution and the 14th Amendment.
"Nearly over 150 years of American precedent is well understood that if you are born in America, you are an American citizen," Milipitas told The Center Square. "This was made clear in the Wong Kim Ark case of 1895, and it's made clear again today in 2026."
The Center Square also reached out to Republican legislators in Sacramento but was not able to get interviews before publication time.
Center Square staff reporter Madeline Shannon contributed to this story.
