Attorney General Rayfield Issues Statement Following U.S. Supreme Court Oral Arguments in Birthright Citizenship Case

Attorney General Dan Rayfield today issued the following statement after the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara, a challenge to President Trump's executive order redefining who is an American citizen at birth.

"Today, the Supreme Court heard arguments on whether a president can simply decide - by executive order, on his first day in office - to strip citizenship from children born on American soil. The answer, as court after court has found, is no.

"The Fourteenth Amendment is not ambiguous. It has guaranteed birthright citizenship for more than 150 years. As a federal appeals court put it recently, this fundamental question 'may explain why it has been more than a century since a branch of our government has made as concerted an effort as the Executive Branch now makes to deny Americans their birthright.'

"Oregon joined this fight because we believe in the rule of law - and because we know who this order actually harms. It's children growing up in our communities. Children attending our schools. Children who are, by every measure of our Constitution and our history, Americans.

"The president does not get to rewrite the Constitution by executive order. We are confident the Court will agree."