On Tuesday, attorneys general from 22 different states sued President Donald Trump to block an executive order that refuses to recognize birthright citizenship of U.S.-born children of illegal aliens in the United States.
According to The New York Times, the complaint was filed in Federal District Court in Massachusetts.
New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin, who led the legal effort, said that Trump’s effort to limit birthright citizenship is “extraordinary and extreme.”
“Presidents are powerful, but he is not a king. He cannot rewrite the Constitution with a stroke of the pen,” he added.
When Trump took office on Monday, he signed an order declaring that future children of illegal aliens would not be American citizens. This would also apply to children born to mothers in the United States but are living here temporarily, such as students and tourists.
Predictably, left-wing lawmakers flew off the handle over this.
Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker called it “unconstitutional.”
“We will not follow an unconstitutional order," Pritzker told reporters on Monday, according to Fox News.
The states bringing forward the lawsuit are being joined by the city of San Francisco and Washington DC to block the order. The states that joined the suit are: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin.
NEW: 18 Democratic-led states sue Trump over his EO trying to end birthright citizenship, in the first case pitting Democratic governors against the new President @scrippsnewshttps://t.co/ny18dqqljx
— Jacob Gardenswartz (@reporterjacobg) January 21, 2025