And even this Supreme Court, which has largely been deferential to President Trump, held that the administration's actions on this front violate the rule of law and the Constitution.

On day one of the Trump administration, the president issued an executive order attempting to illegally end universal birthright citizenship, which is the cornerstone of the 14th Amendment.

Anna Baldwin of Campaign Legal Center.

This is really what, in large part, we fought the Civil War over and about what the foundation of Reconstruction is, that all persons born in this country are full citizens and neither Congress nor the president nor any state can... deny them any rights based on who their parents are.

While historically, this law was about ending racial caste for the children of enslaved people, it was written very knowingly in broad language so that it could never be again, in United States history that you could have the political branches try and deny any group of people the full freedoms and rights of citizenship just because of who their parents were.

So This was the president's attempt to upturn the 14th Amendment to return to a kind of America where you had the logic of Dred Scott and that if your parents weren't citizens, you couldn't be a citizen.

But...

So good government groups, including Campaign Legal Center, have argued in court that these state and federal measures are curtailing people's constitutional rights.