
In what is shaping up to be a landmark legal battle, Attorney General Anne Lopez, joined by 18 other state attorneys general, has filed suit to contest President Donald Trump's recent executive order aimed at terminating birthright citizenship. This move, which directly challenges the citizenship clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, has sparked a fierce debate across the nation. "The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states in its first words that all persons born in the United States are citizens of this nation. These words could not be clearer," Lopez ardently defended, as reported by the Hawaiian Government's official newsroom.
Lopez's legal stance is clear: They believe the President's order unequivocally violates the inviolable text of the Constitution. The presidential order, announced yesterday, endeavors to radically alter an understanding of citizenship that has endured since the Civil War. According to a statement obtained by the Hawaiian Government's newsroom, Special Assistant to the Attorney General Dave Day said, “Hawaiʻi is on the side of the Constitution and seeks only to enforce its plain words.” The legal challenge, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, represents not just a rebuke of the President's order, but a clamor to uphold long-standing historical and constitutional precedents.
The implications of the President's order are widespread and profound. If unchallenged, the executive action would, for the first time since 1868, strip the citizenship rights from countless children born on American soil. It's a measure that would relegate them to a life absent of the benefits and privileges that accompany American citizenship, as outlined by the Hawaiian Government's news release. Without citizenship, affected individuals would stand to lose fundamental rights such as the capacity to acquire a Social Security number, the right to vote, and the ability to work lawfully within the United States.
But the ripple effects go beyond individuals and directly impact the states. The order is set to drastically reduce states' funding for critical programs like Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, as per the attorneys general. States would suddenly be compelled to, without notice, adapt their administration of numerous aid programs—a task both burdensome and costly. "States will also be required—on no notice and at its considerable expense—to immediately begin modifying their operation and administration of benefits programs to account for this change, which will require significant burdens for multiple agencies that operate programs for the benefit of the States’ residents," the Hawaiian Government’s newsroom quotes from the Attorney Generals’ filing.
This legal contest isn't just Hawai'i striking back; it's a broad coalition that includes, among others, California, New York, and the District of Columbia. The Hawaiian Government’s newsroom offers full details on the filing and the basis for this high-stakes legal dispute.