WASHINGTON, DC – Following the conclusion of oral arguments at the Supreme Court on Thursday, Democratic AGs took to TV to discuss their continued defense of upholding birthright citizenship after the Trump administration’s attempts to unconstitutionally terminate it. Democratic AGs remain confident their arguments will prevail in front of SCOTUS.  

New Jersey AG Platkin and Massachusetts AG Campbell on CNN News Central:
 

• “…If babies are born here, Birthright Citizenship says they have their citizens, they have access to the rights and privileges of a citizen,” AG Campbell. But if we take that away, then we have babies born in this country with no attachment to any country and the chaos and confusion that would cause in addition to the financial burden on our respective states.”

• “This case is both about birthright citizenship, but it’s also about whether the President is constrained by the Constitution or whether with the stroke of a sharpie he can rewrite one of the most consequential amendments in that document,” AG Platkin said.
• “Now they are trying to rewrite the constitution, rewrite the language for their benefit to try to push an immigration policy that is inhumane,” AG Campbell said. “This idea that a young baby, unborn babies, targeting them to not only take away their citizenship but most importantly somehow probably try to get rid of them from this country.”
• “And so we’re standing up not only from a moral place but also because we believe in the rule of law and what it has been in this context for over 150 years,” AG Campbell concluded.” 

California AG Rob Bonta on Morning Joe: 

• “We’re on great constitutional ground, whether it be the black letter law right there in black and white in the 14th Amendment Citizenship Clause or the U .S. Supreme Court cases that have interpreted it. Birthright citizenship is bedrock foundational constitutional law. It’s a right owed to all in the United States of America.”
  
• “This is a perfect case for a nationwide injunction. It’s a constitutional right that applies broadly to everyone in the United States. If you’re born on American soil then you are a citizen, period, full stop. It doesn’t matter what state you’re born in.”
• “Congress has the power, the purse. Congress can appropriate. Congress can spend. The president can’t. But the president wants that power very urgently. It’s not his, he can’t, and so there’s a number of cases in which he has violated the US Constitution the separation of powers violated the law…” 

New Jersey AG Matthew Platkin on The Briefing with Jen Psaki: 

• “This case was about birthright citizenship, which is incredibly important, whether the president can rewrite the Constitution. But it’s about whether the president is going to adhere to the constitutional norms that this country has abided by for two and a half centuries.”

• “They’re [nationwide injunctions] an extreme remedy. But there are extreme cases, and this is clearly one.”

• “And I want you to just think about the absurdity if their position prevails…Many mothers in South Jersey give birth at Philadelphia hospitals.  Are we really going to say, because Pennsylvania is not in the suit, that those children are not citizens simply because their mother went to a hospital across the river? But that’s what the United States government is arguing in court.” 

Washington AG Nick Brown on Chris Jansing Reports: 

• “And the idea of the Department of Justice is saying in the highest court of the land that they wouldn’t commit to following an order from one of our circuit courts in America is really, really frankly shocking. And it shows the bounds by which the Department of Justice now is being stretched to defend what we see time and time from the President of the United States is unlawfulness and lawlessness and we can’t abide by that as attorney generals representing our states.”

• But I am certain that when they get to the merits of this issue about birthright citizenship and the 150 years of precedent that’s been established in America, defining what it means to America, and that they will ultimately reach a decision. And I cannot imagine that the justices will determine that that history no longer exists and is not important or was decided incorrectly.

• “What we’ve heard from the Department of Justice is that people would lose their rights of citizenship if they move from my state to Idaho or if they move from New Jersey to Pennsylvania because Pennsylvania did not participate in this case. And that’s really absurd.” 

Colorado AG Phil Wieser on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown: 

• “This is about our constitutional freedoms, our nation is a nation that welcomes people here and has a very clear principle in the Constitution. If you’re born here, you’re a citizen […] This is a frontal attack on that principle. It’s disruptive and harmful to people’s lives here in Colorado. I wasn’t going to take this. I was gonna fight in court and now we’re at the Supreme Court.”

• “We cannot allow a president to act above the law. We’ve got to be ready for that Risk, Wolf and make sure that we’re vigilant and make sure we uphold our Constitution.” 

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