Attorney General Bonta Secures Appeals Court Decision Affirming Nationwide Injunction in Birthright Citizenship Lawsuit

OAKLAND - California Attorney General Rob Bonta today issued a statement on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit's decision affirming the nationwide preliminary injunction granted by the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in a lawsuit co-led by California, New Jersey, and Massachusetts challenging President Trump's unconstitutional executive order seeking to end the constitutional right to birthright citizenship.

"Today's decision upholds a nationwide injunction in our lawsuit challenging the President's attempt to end, with the stroke of a pen, the constitutional right to birthright citizenship," said Attorney General Bonta. "The First Circuit reaffirmed what we already knew to be true: The President's attack on birthright citizenship flagrantly defies the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and a nationwide injunction is the only reasonable way to protect against its catastrophic implications. We are glad that the courts have continued to protect Americans' fundamental rights. However, the fight does not end here. We will continue to oppose this executive order until the President's attempt to unmake the Constitution is blocked completely."

In its decision affirming the preliminary injunction, the First Circuit wrote: "The analysis that follows is necessarily lengthy, as we must address the parties' numerous arguments in each of the cases involved. But the length of our analysis should not be mistaken for a sign that the fundamental question that these cases raise about the scope of birthright citizenship is a difficult one. It is not, which 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."

A copy of the court's decision is available here.