340,000 Americans Said No to Trump's Attacks On Our Constitution
A follow-up on Trump v. Barbara and what comes next
This week, history was made — and the fight is not over.
Yesterday on April 1, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara, the case that will determine whether a president can unilaterally strip birthright citizenship from children born on American soil. If you haven’t read my earlier piece, [read it here] — because what happens next affects every single one of us.
Let’s Address This.
What’s At Stake
Here’s your quick reminder of what’s at stake: On the first day of his second term, President Trump issued an executive order claiming that the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause does not protect children born to undocumented parents or those with temporary legal status. Every federal court that has considered the issue has already struck the Executive Order down as unconstitutional. The text of the Amendment is clear—all persons born on American soil, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens. Full stop. This is not a gray area. This is settled constitutional law, affirmed by the Supreme Court itself going back to 1898.
And yet, here we are.
The People Showed Up—More Than 340K of Us
But here is what I need you to hear loud and clear: the American people did not sit this one out.
Ahead of oral arguments, I partnered with the ACLU to call on Americans to sign the ACLU’s petition reaffirming what we have always known—that no president has the authority to redefine who is or isn’t a citizen. The response was overwhelming. Over 340,000 people have signed their names so far.
Last night, those names were projected in a light display in Washington, D.C. Hundreds of thousands of names, illuminated on the walls of the capital, declaring in one collective voice: every child born in this country belongs here.
That is not symbolic. That is a mandate.
As the ACLU pointed out right before the Supreme Court heard the case:
Hopefully, President Trump will learn something about the Constitution he keeps trying to violate. He wants to distract from the chaos his administration is causing at home and abroad. But what he can’t distract from are the real children and families at the center of this case. What he will hear in that courtroom is simple. The Constitution, not the president, defines who is a citizen. The 14th Amendment guarantees that children born in the United States are citizens, a principle the U.S. Supreme Court has reaffirmed for more than a century.
Indeed, this is exactly what the ACLU brilliantly argued.
President Trump’s Strategy Is Part of a Larger Attack
Make no mistake—this case does not exist in a vacuum. The assault on birthright citizenship is one front in the Trump administration’s broader campaign to redraw the boundaries of who “belongs” in America. We have seen the gutting of asylum protections. Armed agents deployed into immigrant communities. Non-citizen students punished for constitutionally protected speech. U.S. citizen children—including a child receiving cancer treatment—placed on deportation flights. US Veterans being deported. In fact, the administration’s own immigration chief bragged about building a deportation system that runs like “Amazon Prime for human beings.”
This is not immigration policy. This is a systematic dismantling of constitutional protections—and birthright citizenship is their next target.
What Happens Next?
Keep your eyes on June / July. That is when the Supreme Court’s decision is expected. Between now and then, do not look away. Follow this platform and the ACLU for updates on this case and other critical cases moving through the courts right now. Share this piece. Talk to your people. Stay in the fight.
I often reflect that my father arrived in this country with $30 and an unshakeable belief that the Constitution meant what it said. This week, 340,000 people proved that belief is still alive in America.
Now we need the Court to prove it too.
Follow the ACLU for updates. Stay engaged. The decision is coming.
Trump is the one who doesn't belong here!
Thanks for this update Qasim. America btw isn't the only country to have birthright citizenship. I was born on a British Army Battalion base in Austria. I could was told I could legally obtain dual citizenship with England and Austria. Years later I married a Canadian and moved with him to Canada and was told that through marriage I could obtain Canadian citizenship. I chose to remain British in both instances. Yet the choice was there. America seems to believe that they are the only ones who allow this! This is not just an American situation and people should understand that probably most countries in the world adhere to birthright citizenship as well as citizenship through marriage! The only difference in American terms is that they only want WHITE people to qualify. My dad was white British and my mum was East Indian. So tell those MAGA idiots to stick that in their pipe and smoke!