Alabama Backs Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Case
Alabama AG Marshall joins 26 States in urging the Supreme Court to uphold President Trump’s executive order limiting automatic U.S. citizenship
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall reaffirmed his support Thursday for President Donald J. Trump’s 2025 Executive Order that seeks to end automatic citizenship for children born in the United States to non-citizen parents. The State has joined a coalition of 26 States and territories in filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in Trump v. Barbara, a case set for argument this spring.
On his first day in office, President Trump signed Executive Order 14160, “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship.” The measure directs federal agencies to limit the issuance of citizenship documents for children born here when at least one parent is neither a U.S. citizen nor a lawful permanent resident. It applies to births occurring more than 30 days after the order’s effective date.
The order has faced intense legal challenges. Lower federal courts across the country blocked its implementation, citing long-standing interpretations of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause. That clause States that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States…” — language Courts have upheld for more than a century.
Marshall said Alabama’s brief stresses both constitutional and practical reasons to uphold the executive action. “The framers of our Constitution never meant for American citizenship to be handed out automatically to anyone who happens to be born here,” he said, arguing that the current interpretation has strained public services and weakened enforcement of immigration laws.
The coalition’s brief asserts that children of parents here unlawfully or on temporary visas are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States under the Fourteenth Amendment — and therefore not entitled to automatic citizenship. It also says burdens from illegal immigration on education, health care, law enforcement and infrastructure justify the policy change.
Alabama joined the Iowa and Tennessee-led brief along with Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Guam, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming in the coalition.
The Supreme Court’s decision to hear the case signals that a definitive ruling on the constitutional question could come later this year.
The full brief may be read HERE.
