Today, HWG LLP filed an amicus brief on behalf of Dan K. Moore Distinguished Professor of Law Eric L. Muller in the Birthright Citizenship Case now before the U.S. Supreme Court. The brief recounts the personal stories of three Japanese Americans born in detention on U.S. soil during World War II. In each case, the child’s citizenship was based on where they were born, not their parents’ legal status.
What’s In the Brief
Drawing on Professor Muller’s decades of research into the treatment of Japanese Americans during World War II, the brief highlights stories of enemy aliens, citizenship renunciants, and families forcibly transported to the United States from Peru and held in detention for prisoner exchange.
“History gives us these concrete examples of the United States’ longstanding commitment to territorial birthright citizenship,” said Muller. “The children of these families were all recognized as U.S. citizens, even during this period of immense anxiety about loyalty and allegiance.”
The brief demonstrates how core constitutional principles and statutory rights impacted the lives of real people and continue to apply today.
How The Filing Connects to the Birthright Citizenship Challenge
The Supreme Court will hear oral argument in the Birthright Citizenship case, Trump v. Barbara, on April 1. The case was brought to challenge the President’s Executive Order 14160, which conditions citizenship for children born in the United States on the legal status of their parents. Professor Muller’s brief will add to the Court’s understanding of the issue by spotlighting individual stories in an historic crucible, showing how the birthright citizenship guarantees in our Constitution and laws applied in practice to minorities during World War II.
Why It Matters
The Birthright Citizenship case challenges our understandings of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the scope of executive power. More fundamentally, the case raises important questions about the country’s commitments to equality and opportunity for all.
“Our constitution and laws reflect this nation’s values, and for generations, those laws have conferred citizenship by birth,” said Rachel Grossman, HWG LLP attorney. “The Court should not lose sight of this history or its lessons about individual rights and the rule of law.”
HWG is proud to work with Professor Muller on this important contribution.