WASHINGTON – The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) and 48 of its affiliates and national associates from across the country have again united to defend the fundamental constitutional guarantee of citizenship for those born in the United States. Led by NAPABA, the nationwide coalition of bar organizations 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, like those on work or student visas, and a father who is neither a U.S. citizen nor a lawful permanent resident.  

NAPABA first lodged its objections to EO 14160 in its amicus filings last year with the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the First, Fourth, and Ninth Circuits. NAPABA and its coalition underscored then the historical significance of United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649 (1898), the role of Asian Americans in shaping our nation’s foundational immigration and civil rights precedents, and the disproportionate harms that EO 14160, if upheld, would visit upon Asian American communities.

Today, NAPABA and its coalition bring those core arguments and more before the U.S. Supreme Court. We maintain 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). NAPABA also focuses on congressional debates over the Fourteenth Amendment, which explicitly contemplated that children of Chinese migrants would be covered under the amendment.  

In response to the federal government’s mischaracterization of the Supreme Court’s 1898 description of Wong Kim Ark’s parents as having status akin to lawful permanent residence in the United States, NAPABA recounts the historical context of discrimination that Chinese migrants faced in the late 19th century. Their presence in the country then was a far cry from the lawful permanency afforded to today’s green card holders. Chinese immigrants were excluded from full participation in civic life and systematically denied the ability to integrate into American society. They faced mass violence and a cascading series of exclusionary laws designed to expel them.

If upheld, EO 14160 would impose upon Asian American communities the same injustices leveled against Wong Kim Ark’s generation. EO 14160 must be set aside.

We extend our gratitude to our exemplary legal team for their tireless work behind the brief, including Rahat N. Babar, who serves as NAPABA’s Deputy Executive Director and General Counsel, Edgar Chen, who serves as NAPABA’s Special Policy Advisor, and Chris M. Kwok, who serves as co-chair of NAPABA’s Dispute Resolution Committee.