Washington AG Nick Brown files lawsuit challenging Trump’s order to end birthright citizenship

OLYMPIA – Washington and at least 23 other states are challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship.

“I was sworn into office six days ago, and I swore an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States of America and the constitution and laws of the state of Washington,” state Attorney General Nick Brown said Tuesday. “This case is in furtherance of that oath. It is our obligation to protect Washingtonians from unjust actions no matter where they arise.”

The Washington State Attorney General Office joined Illinois, Oregon and Arizona in a suit filed Tuesday in the Western District of Washington. A separate group of 19 states has filed a similar lawsuit in Massachusetts.

The states argue Trump’s executive order violates the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

During a news conference Tuesday, Brown said the cases are “very similar.” The lawsuits from attorneys general throughout the country were filed less than a day after Trump was sworn into office for a second term and again put Washington state at the forefront for challenging Trump’s initiatives.

“On Monday, one man, the president, said that 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,” Brown said Tuesday. “He is wrong.”

In the hours after taking office, Trump signed a flurry of orders, including an executive order ending automatic birthright citizenship that read, in part: a “child born in the U.S. must have at least one parent who is either a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident” to automatically become a U.S. citizen.

The order is set to take effect on Feb. 19.

“This is plainly illegal. This one is fairly obvious,” Brown said. “Not only is it spelled out explicitly in our constitution, the Supreme Court has specifically weighed in on this case.”

If enacted, Brown said the executive order would deny citizenship to 150,000 newborn children every year.

“That’s thousands of people born here in Washington who would be denied the key to full participation and opportunity in American society,” Brown said. “It would render them undocumented at birth. It could even render them citizens of no country at all.”

As he signed the order in the Oval Office, Trump told reporters the order “could be” challenged in the courts.

“We think we have good ground, but you could be right,” Trump said after a reporter asked about potential legal challenges. “You’ll find out. It’s ridiculous. We’re the only country in the world that does this with birthright, you know, and it’s just absolutely ridiculous.”

Currently, 32 other countries – including Mexico and Canada – guarantee unrestricted birthright citizenship, and an additional 32 countries guarantee birthright citizenship with some restrictions.

The executive order, Brown said, relies on a “fringe theory that this clause changes decades and generations of legal precedent upheld by our Supreme Court.”

During a news conference Tuesday, Brown said his office would file an emergency motion within the next 24 hours “to seek to block any federal agency from relying on the order to deny citizenship” to babies born in Washington.

During the event, Brown called the executive order “unconstitutional, un-American and cruel,” and said it attempts to “redefine what it means to be an American.”

“The President’s executive order claiming to end birthright citizenship in the United States is plainly and obviously illegal,” Brown said. “Washington state will not abide by such harmful and unjust action.”

Under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

According to Brown, birthright citizenship dates back more than 150 years, when “our nation had a population of formerly enslaved people who were, in effect, stateless” and has since been affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court to include the children of noncitizens.

“Birthright citizenship makes it clear that citizenship cannot, cannot, be conditioned on one’s race, ethnicity or where their parents came from,” Brown said. “What’s not in the Constitution is anything saying the president has the authority to decide who is granted citizenship.”

In his remarks, Brown said that Trump began his political career “in large part, by inciting fear and hatred against immigrant communities.”

“Now he wants to redefine American citizenship altogether, but he cannot,” Brown said. “One man cannot simply erase what the meaning of the Constitution is, not even the President.”

Rep. Michael Baumgartner, R-Spokane, said in an interview Tuesday that while “in general, I’d rather have things go through Congress than have executive orders,” he thought the practice of birthright citizenship was ‘’worthy of debate and clarification from the courts.”

“My preference would be that these things would come through Congress, but I do think it’s a very legitimate question, and I think the 14th Amendment – we’ll see what the courts decide – but certainly the intent of the folks that created it, the amendment, was to right the wrongs of slavery and not a means of what it has become,” Baumgartner said.

Ahead of Brown’s announcement Tuesday morning, state House Republican Leader Rep. Andrew Stokesbary, R-Auburn, told reporters he had not seen either the executive order or the lawsuit, and that he “did not read anything of the things that Trump did yesterday.”

“As I said last Monday, we got elected to solve state issues, not federal issues,” Stokesbary said. “I really like Nick Brown, but I would caution him the same way. He was elected to represent Washington and protect Washington state’s interests.”

Stokesbary noted that 10 of the 12 members of Washington’s congressional delegation are Democrats, and that it was “surprising that Democrats like Nick Brown don’t trust Democrats like Maria Cantwell to stand up for Washington’s interests.”

Speaker of the House Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma, told reporters Tuesday afternoon that she discussed the lawsuit with Brown on Monday evening, and that she expressed “a strong support for his doing so.”

“I think we will be very focused on protecting the constitutional rights of Washingtonians from beginning to end, this year and every year,” Jinkins said. “And we’ll again do the things that we need to do to protect Washington’s values.”

Sen. Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, noted that while it was important for the Legislature to protect Washington’s values, “we have our own job to do.”

“We have a budget to balance, we have a lot of ideas for policy,” Pedersen said. “And we’re not going to allow ourselves to be distracted by the chaos machine in Washington, D.C. We’re going to stay focused on meeting the needs of folks in Washington.”

Immigrant rights advocate and first-generation American Monica Mendoza-Cawthorn, who was born in King County, said Tuesday that her parents came to the country in search of the American dream. Since then, Mendoza-Cawthorn has earned a law degree and plans to take the bar exam later this year.

“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-Cawthorn said.

Seeking to reassure others who find themselves in a similar position, Mendoza-Cawthorn said “in Washington, our leaders will do everything they can to ensure that every immigrant is safe, that attempted orders like these are simply attempts.”

Prior to formally filing the lawsuit, Brown said the state “has spent the last year preparing for this day,” which included reviewing Project 2025, a plan of proposals authored by conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, and other documents and case law.

In a statement, Gov. Bob Ferguson said “we started preparing for this scenario more than a year ago.”

“The excellent team at the Attorney General’s Office is ready to fight this unlawful action, and they will have the full support of my administration,” said Ferguson, who filed dozens of lawsuits against the first Trump administration while he served as Washington’s attorney general.

Prior to formally announcing the lawsuit, Brown said in a statement Monday that Trump “signed a host of gravely concerning executive orders that pose significant harm to thousands of Washingtonians.”

Ferguson, who was sworn in as governor last week, filed a lawsuit against the first Trump administration challenging a “travel ban” Trump issued against citizens of certain nations 10 days into the term.

During a joint news conference following the November election, Ferguson said the state AG’s office has increased staff compared to Trump’s first term to challenge the federal government when necessary.

In his remarks Tuesday, Brown said it wasn’t his goal to “challenge every single thing that comes through the Trump administration.

“There might be opportunities for us to work collaboratively,” Brown said. “But again, my obligation is to protect the people of this state and the laws of this state. And that is why we have brought this particular suit.”