Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced last week that the state has joined a coalition of 26 states and territories urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold President Trump’s executive order ending automatic citizenship for children born to certain noncitizens.

According to a news release, Alabama signed onto an amicus brief supporting Executive Order No. 14,160, titled Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship, which seeks to prohibit so-called birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants and foreign nationals who travel to the United States for the purpose of giving birth.

President Trump issued the order on his first day in office. It was quickly blocked by a nationwide injunction, despite prior Supreme Court rulings questioning the legality of such broad injunctions. The case, Trump v. Barbara, now places the issue before the high court, which will decide whether the order complies with the Fourteenth Amendment.

In their brief, the states argue that the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment was never intended to grant automatic citizenship to children of illegal aliens because those individuals are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States. The coalition contends that decades of interpretation have stretched the amendment beyond its original meaning.

The states also cite policy concerns, arguing that illegal immigration has strained public infrastructure and imposed billions of dollars in costs related to education, health care and law enforcement. The brief asserts that automatic citizenship incentivizes illegal immigration, weakens enforcement of immigration laws and undermines assimilation.

“The framers of our Constitution never meant for American citizenship to be handed out automatically to anyone who happens to be born here,” Marshall said in the release. “For decades, the Fourteenth Amendment has been distorted and exploited, imposing enormous costs and serious public-safety consequences on the States. Thankfully, President Trump acted swiftly to close this loophole and restore the original meaning of the Citizenship Clause. As our coalition’s brief explains, this case is about fidelity to the Constitution’s text and history. The Court must finally correct this longstanding error.”

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in April. A ruling could have sweeping implications for immigration policy and constitutional law nationwide.

Alabama joined the Iowa- and Tennessee-led brief along with Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Guam, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.

The full brief is available at www.alabamaag.gov.