NEWS

Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Solano County (APABA-S) joins NAPABA Coalition to Defend Birthright Citizenship in the U.S. Supreme Court

 Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Solano County (APABA-S) has joined a nationwide coalition of nearly 50 bar organizations to defend the fundamental constitutional guarantee of citizenship for those born in the United States. On February 25, 2026, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) and 48 of its affiliates and national associates from across the country filed an amicus brief, which can be found here, before the U.S. Supreme Court in Trump v. Barbara, No. 25-365.  Oral argument is scheduled for April 1, 2026.

 The Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution promises every person equal treatment under the law. Its plain text includes an equal claim of citizenship to all persons born in the United States, regardless of the status or circumstances of their parents.

 Executive Order 14160 upends that promise. It refuses to recognize the birthright citizenship of any child born in the United States to a mother who is lawfully present on a temporary basis, including those on work or student visas, and a father who is neither a U.S. citizen nor a lawful permanent resident.  

 The amicus brief highlights the core principles established in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649 (1898), which has been distorted in attempts to justify the constitutionality of EO 14160. In Wong Kim Ark, the Court upheld the conferral of citizenship to children born in the U.S. to non-citizen parents under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause. Through this brief, amici curiae seek to underscore the historical significance of this precedent, the role of Asian Americans in shaping our nation’s foundational immigration and civil rights precedents, and the disproportionate harm that would fall upon the Asian American communities if EO 14160 is not enjoined.

 We take the position that the federal government distorts the holding of Wong Kim Ark and creates a legally and historically faulty analogy that Chinese migrants in the late 19th century were the functional equivalents to today’s lawful permanent residents (i.e., green card holders). The amicus brief also addresses the congressional debates over the Fourteenth Amendment, which explicitly contemplated that children of Chinese migrants would be covered under the amendment. 

 If upheld, EO 14160 would impose upon Asian American communities the same injustices leveled against Wong Kim Ark’s generation and deprive the children of today’s immigrants the same protections that were affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1898. EO 14160 must be set aside.

 For these reasons, Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Solano County proudly joins the NAPABA coalition of 48 amici in today’s amicus brief in defense of birthright citizenship.