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WASHINGTON, D.C. – America First Legal (AFL), in partnership with Boyden Gray PLLC, has filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of nine U.S. Senators—led by Senator Ted Cruz—urging the Court to overturn the Ninth Circuit’s ruling in Trump v. Washington and restore the original constitutional limits of American citizenship. This new brief follows AFL’s earlier filings in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First, Fourth, and Ninth Circuits, where AFL defended President Trump’s constitutional authority to restore the original understanding of the Citizenship Clause.
At stake is a foundational question of sovereignty: who qualifies as a citizen of the United States. AFL’s brief explains that:
Conferring automatic citizenship to children of those in the country illegally was never the intention of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause. Being “subject to the jurisdiction of” the United States requires full allegiance to the nation and obedience to its laws. Granting citizenship to those here unlawfully breaks the principle of consent between a nation and its people and rewards violations of U.S. law.
AFL’s brief further clarifies that “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” means lawful presence and complete allegiance, not just physical presence. Children of foreign diplomats or enemy soldiers are not U.S. citizens because their parents owe allegiance to another country. The same principle applies to children born to parents who entered or remain in the country illegally.
“Citizenship is not an accident of geography—it is a covenant of allegiance,” said Dan Epstein, Vice President of America First Legal. “The Framers made clear that only those lawfully here and fully subject to our laws are part of the American political community. The Supreme Court should restore that original understanding.”
AFL remains steadfast in defending the Constitution’s text and meaning. Citizenship is a privilege grounded in allegiance and lawful presence, not an entitlement based on birthplace or circumstance. The Court now has the opportunity to reaffirm that American sovereignty—and the rule of law—begin with control over who becomes a U.S. citizen. Recent records investigations have already exposed that several states, including California, lack evidence to support their sweeping claims of harm in related lawsuits against the Trump Administration—underscoring just how politically driven these challenges are, and how critical it is for the Court to restore constitutional discipline in this area.
Read the full brief here.
Read AFL’s brief filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals here.
Read more of our amicus briefs here.
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