Attorney General Peter F. Neronha, along with a coalition of attorneys general from various states, released a joint statement regarding the Supreme Court's oral arguments on birthright citizenship. The statement emphasized their united stance in defending birthright citizenship and the rule of law.
The coalition stated: “We were proud to stand together to defend birthright citizenship and the rule of law at the U.S. Supreme Court today. For 127 years, since the Supreme Court settled the issue, the law has been clear: if you are born in this country, you are a citizen of the United States and of our States. Administrations of both parties have consistently respected that right ever since."
They further criticized the Trump Administration's position presented before the Supreme Court, stating: "As every court to have considered the policy agrees, the President’s attempt to end birthright citizenship is patently unconstitutional. The Trump Administration’s argument before the Supreme Court today—that the President should be permitted to strip American citizenship from people based solely on the state in which they happen to be born—would upend settled law and settled practice and would produce widespread chaos and disruption."
The statement concluded with a firm assertion against altering constitutional interpretations through executive actions: “The President cannot rewrite the Constitution and contradict the Supreme Court’s own holdings with the stroke of a pen.”
In addition to Attorney General Neronha, attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont Washington as well as from Washington D.C., joined in issuing this statement.