Trump faces lawsuit over push to limit birthright citizenship

Despite previous Supreme Court ruling, Trump has sought new approach to limit the long-standing practice. Washington, DC – Rights organisations have launched a legal challenge to United States President Donald Trump’s latest efforts to restrict which infants born in the country are automatically granted birthright citizenship. The groups, which had successfully defeated Trump’s earlier efforts to more broadly end so-called birthright citizenship at the US Supreme Court, launched the latest challenge on Tuesday at a federal court in the US state of New Hampshire. That came days after Trump signed two new executive orders on the subject, one of which sought to expand narrow categories within the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment that already deemed some individuals ineligible for automatic citizenship upon birth. The other order called on the heads of the Department of State and Homeland Security to take measures to stop the practice of mothers travelling to the US for the sole purpose of giving birth, known as “birth tourism”.

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Scoop News DeskWashington DC · Published Tuesday, August 11, 2026 at 4:53 PM UTCUpdated Wednesday, August 12, 2026 at 4:22 PM UTC

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In a statement, Aarti Kohli, executive director of the Asian Law Caucus, one of the groups challenging Trump’s latest effort, said the administration “is just throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks”. “Immigrant communities know that our rights are on the line, especially when the government uses us as scapegoats,” she said. However, the administration let the July deadline to ask the top court to reconsider its ruling pass in late July.

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