The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) will host a webinar titled “SCOTUS Oral Argument Preview: Who is Allowed to be a U.S. Citizen? Defending Birthright Citizenship and the Role of Asian American History” on Thursday, March 26 at 3:00 p.m. ET.
The program will preview the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara, a case addressing the scope of birthright citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment. On April 1, 2026, the Court is scheduled to hear arguments concerning Executive Order 14160, which declared that only children born to U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents would automatically receive citizenship at birth. The executive order immediately faced legal challenges across the country.
NAPABA joined a broad coalition of bar associations in filing amicus briefs opposing the order. The March 26 webinar will discuss NAPABA’s role in defending birthright citizenship in the lower federal courts and before the Supreme Court, as well as the broader legal and historical context surrounding the issue.
The panel will feature Professor Beth Lew-Williams, Director of the Program in Asian American Studies and Professor of History at Princeton University. Professor Lew-Williams is the author of The Chinese Must Go: Violence, Exclusion, and the Making of the Alien in America (Harvard University Press, 2018), a widely acclaimed work examining the history of anti-Chinese violence and exclusion in the United States.
Also joining the discussion is Wendy M. Feng, Counsel at Seyfarth Shaw LLP and lead outside counsel for the legal team representing NAPABA in the litigation. The program will be moderated by Edgar Chen, NAPABA Special Policy Advisor.
Together, the panelists will examine the legal arguments in Trump v. Barbara, the historical foundations of birthright citizenship, and the role Asian American legal history plays in shaping contemporary constitutional debates.
Registration for the webinar is free and open to the public. Click here to learn more and register for the event.