SEATTLE—Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown (D) will file a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington on Tuesday, January 21, challenging President Donald J Trump’s Executive Order on birthright citizenship, claiming it to be unlawful and unconstitutional. The announcement came during a press conference held in the Chief Sealth Conference Room of the Attorney General’s Office in Seattle.
The lawsuit is joined by the states of Oregon, Arizona, and Illinois. Other states across the nation have filed similar lawsuits include New Jersey, California, Massachusetts, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin, as well as the District of Columbia.
Attorney General Brown explained that Washington is filing separate to the other states because there are “unique issues and harms” to Washingtonians that need to be addressed such as healthcare and other services that would be impacted if citizenship rights were revoked. However, his office is working collaboratively with these other states.
“The President’s Executive Order claiming to end birthright citizenship in the United States is plainly and obviously illegal. Washington State will not abide such harmful and unjust action,” said Attorney General Brown Tuesday.
Birthright citizenship has been protected by the United States Constitution’s 14th Amendment since its adoption in 1868, where it states that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”
The right was enshrined in the Constitution following the Civil War when approximately four million enslaved people were left stateless.
The country has upheld this right throughout history. For example, in the case of the United States v. Wong Kim Ark where the defendant was denied reentry into the United States, where he was born and obtained citizenship, after visiting his family in China. The U.S. Supreme Court, on this matter, argued that Wong Kim Ark indeed was a U.S. citizen by birthright under the “clear words and manifest intent” of the 14th Amendment.
On Monday, January 20, just hours after his inauguration ceremony, President Trump signed close to dozens of Executive Orders, one that rescinded 78 of outgoing President Joe Biden’s executive actions, while dozens more introduced orders of his own including pardoning some 1,500 January 6 defendants who breached the grounds of the US Capitol Building—some damaging property and assaulting law enforcement officers.
“I am personally offended by the pardoning of the 1,500 people who stormed our capitol, that assaulted law enforcement, and plainly violated the law,” said Brown.
The Executive Orders states that “no department or agency of the United States government shall issue documents recognizing United States citizenship, or accept documents issued by State, local, or other governments or authorities purporting to recognize United States citizenship” to persons born to a mother and father who are unlawfully in the United States or a mother who is lawfully in the US temporarily and whose father is not a lawful US citizen or permanent resident by the time of birth.
“On Monday one man, the President, said the citizenship of millions of Americans born to immigrants in this country means less. That the children of immigrants born into citizenship don’t have as much value in this country as others,” said Attorney General Brown. “He is wrong. One man cannot simply erase what the meaning of the constitution is, not even the President.”
Attorney General Brown continued that President Trump’s Executive Order would deny citizenship to 150,000 newborn children each year in the United States including thousands annually in Washington denying them participation and opportunity in American society.
His lawsuit argues that Trump’s order violates the citizenship clause of the 14th amendment of the Constitution, and that it separately violates a provision of federal immigration law from 1940. In addition to these complaints Brown’s office will be filing an emergency motion within the next 24 hours that will seek to block any federal agency from relying on the order to deny citizenship to babies born in Washington State.
The AG’s Office is asking the court to intervene before Trump’s order goes into effect in 30 days.
“I was sworn into the office six days ago and I swore an oath the defend the constitution of the United States of America and the constitution and laws of the State of Washington,” said Brown. “This case in inference of that oath. It is our obligation to protect Washingtonians from unjust actions no matter where they arise.”
At Tuesday’s presser, Monica Mendoza-Cawthon, a Kent resident whose parents immigrated from Mexico and who was born a citizen, shared how this order would impact her family and millions like them.
“My parents came here with the promise of the American Dream, a promise of freedom and democracy,” said Mendoza-Cawthon. “Unfortunately, we are in a dark time in our national government where the dreams of my parents are threatened to be taken away for so many people in the future.”
Mendoza-Cawthon continued that it was thanks to her parents’ sacrifices that she was able to become a first-generation college graduate and a first-generation law school graduate set to take the bar exam later this year
Mendoza-Cawthon has volunteered with One America since 2013—an organization that aims to build leadership and organizes grassroots leaders and our allies in key areas in Washington state to push for policy change, mobilize civic engagement in our communities and advocate for systems that welcome and include immigrants at every level.
The preliminary complaint is currently pending a motion in the District Court level, but Attorney General Brown expects the case could move forward to the Court of Appeals or even District Court. If it gets to that level, he expects the Supreme Court would rule unanimously in his favor as it has in other cases prior such as the United States v. Wong Kim Ark.
Washington State Republican Chair Jim Walsh criticized Attorney General Brown’s lawsuit calling it a “brazen political move searching for a headline” accusing him of setting himself up for a U.S. Senate run. Brown denied this accusation calling it “ridiculous.”
As for President Trump’s numerous other Executive Orders signed yesterday, Brown did not explicitly say whether his office plans to file lawsuits challenging any others while adding that he and his team will continue to look closely at the President’s orders now, and in the future, to see if they violate any laws.
Attorney General Brown was sure to thank former Washington State Attorney General, now Governor, Bob Ferguson for his work preparing for the myriad actions by the new Trump Administration.
Author: Kienan Briscoe
