The Campaign

Write It Into Law

The executive order failed. The Court has ruled. The road that remains runs through Congress and the Constitution's own amendment process — and we intend to take it.

Last updated: July 2026

Do one thing today: ask Congress for hearings on the citizenship statute — then be counted behind the campaign.

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Three tracks, one objective

The statute forces the question. The ladder makes the statute credible and yields real policy at every step. The amendment is the answer no future Court can revisit. Full legal analysis in The Statutory Path.

Track 1 — The statute

Justice Kavanaugh's Trump v. Barbara concurrence rested on 8 U.S.C. § 1401 and noted Congress "could amend" it or enact exceptions. A duly enacted amendment presents the constitutional question squarely — on a legislative record, not an executive order's defects. Every hearing and recorded vote builds the record even short of enactment.

Where it stands:: As of July 2026: building the case for introduction — strategy and drafting standards published.
Horizon:: Introduction within the coming Congress; hearings and recorded votes are success on their own terms.

Track 2 — The incremental ladder

Six prospective steps from least to most constitutionally contested — birth-tourism visa law, codified exceptions, documentation infrastructure, then the statutory exceptions themselves. Each rung is real policy on its own; each builds the record for the next; the strongest test category (temporary visitors) leads.

Where it stands:: As of July 2026: the ladder is published in our legal-strategy paper; the first rungs are ready to draft.
Horizon:: Continuous — winnable votes between flagship cycles.

Track 3 — The amendment

If the Court adheres to Barbara, only Article V restores the allegiance reading permanently. State memorializing resolutions build the visible, state-by-state count an amendment campaign needs — and give sympathetic legislatures something concrete to do now.

Where it stands:: As of July 2026: model state resolution published below; no resolutions introduced yet.
Horizon:: A generational goal, and we say so publicly.

The incremental ladder

Six prospective steps, least to most constitutionally contested. Every rung is worth having even if the summit is never reached — that is what makes this a strategy rather than a gesture.

Birth-tourism visa law
Codify and strengthen the 2020 B-visa rule — statutory ineligibility, consular screening, penalties for commercial operations. Minimal constitutional risk.
Codify the settled exceptions
Write the diplomatic and hostile-forces exceptions into § 1401 — Congress legislating Citizenship Clause exceptions in a form no one can plausibly challenge.
Jus sanguinis housekeeping
Prospective transmission-rule adjustments where policy needs support them — reinforcing that "citizen at birth" is, across much of the U.S. Code, a status Congress defines.
Birth-documentation framework
Record (never adjudicate) parental status in vital records with due process, presumptions for the child, and free documentation. Proves administrability before any rule depends on it.
The temporary-visitor exception
The strongest test category — furthest from Wong Kim Ark's permanent-domicile facts. Prospective only, statelessness-safeguarded, with expedited Supreme Court review built in.
The core exception
Children of unlawfully present parents — squarely presenting the question Barbara's sixth vote reserved, as the standing judgment of Congress awaiting a changed Court.

Our bright lines

These are not talking points; they are conditions of the campaign’s legitimacy, and they appear in everything we support.

Prospective only — nothing we support touches the citizenship of any person born before its effective date, ever.
A statelessness safeguard in every bill: no child is left without a nationality.
Due process in any documentation regime — presumptions favor the child.
Trump v. Barbara is binding law unless confined, overruled, or superseded by amendment. We contest it through legislation and litigation — never defiance.
No dehumanizing language. The argument is about rules for future births, and the people involved are children and families.

Model state resolution

NCI’s model memorializing resolution — our proposed text, offered for any state legislator to introduce. No resolutions have been introduced yet; when they are, we will track them honestly on the State Tracker.

A RESOLUTION memorializing the Congress of the United States concerning the citizenship rules of the Fourteenth Amendment.

WHEREAS, the Supreme Court of the United States held in Trump v. Barbara (2026) that children born in the United States to parents unlawfully or only temporarily present are citizens at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment; and

WHEREAS, Justice Kavanaugh, concurring in the judgment, observed that Congress could amend 8 U.S.C. § 1401 or otherwise enact new legislation establishing exceptions to birthright citizenship, and that Congress has not yet done so; and

WHEREAS, the question of who is a citizen at birth should be settled by the people's representatives, deliberately, prospectively, and on a full public record;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of [State]:

1. That the Congress of the United States is respectfully urged to enact prospective legislation amending 8 U.S.C. § 1401 to condition automatic citizenship at birth on a parent's citizenship, nationality, lawful permanent residence, or lawful presence with settled ties to the United States, with an express safeguard against statelessness and full protection for every person born before its effective date; and

2. That the Congress is further urged to propose, for ratification by the states, an amendment to the Constitution of the United States restoring the allegiance-based understanding of the Fourteenth Amendment's citizenship rules, applying prospectively only; and

3. That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and each member of this State's congressional delegation.

The action that matters today

Ask your Representative and Senators to support legislation amending 8 U.S.C. § 1401 — the legislative route Justice Kavanaugh’s concurrence noted, while reserving the constitutional question. A copy-ready message is on the Take Action page.

Send the message

Be counted behind it

The campaign’s weight with lawmakers is its supporters — reported honestly, in aggregate only.

Cite this paper

National Citizenship Institute. "Write It Into Law: NCI's Campaign to End Automatic Birthright Citizenship." July 2026. https://nationalcitizenship.org/campaign.

Campaign stages on this page are hand-maintained and updated as events actually occur. NCI never lists a bill or resolution before it is introduced, and never presents a target as an actual count.