Immigration groups came out swinging against President Trump on Monday with a lawsuit asking a federal judge to overturn his executive order blocking illegal immigrants and other temporary visitors from obtaining birthright citizenship for their babies born on U.S. soil.

The groups said Mr. Trump is “flouting the Constitution’s dictates” by trying to limit who is covered by the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of automatic citizenship.

“Neither the Constitution nor any federal statute confers any authority on the president to redefine American citizenship,” the groups said in their lawsuit, led by the American Civil Liberties Union and filed in federal district court in New Hampshire.

At issue is the 14th Amendment, which reads: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

Mr. Trump, as part of his flurry of Day One executive actions, said illegal immigrants and those here on legal but temporary passes don’t qualify as “subject to the jurisdiction.” Therefore, he said, the federal government can refuse to recognize children born to them as citizens.

The president said his order kicks in after 30 days.

Mr. Trump said: “It is the policy of the United States that no department or agency of the United States government shall issue documents recognizing United States citizenship, or accept documents issued by state, local, or other governments or authorities purporting to recognize United States citizenship, to persons:  (1) when that person’s mother was unlawfully present in the United States and the person’s father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth, or (2) when that person’s mother’s presence in the United States was lawful but temporary, and the person’s father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth.”

Many legal scholars have suggested Mr. Trump is on iffy legal ground, though a cadre of conservative-leaning legal authorities argues there is justification for the move.

The ACLU says the issue was litigated before the Supreme Court in the late 1800s, in a case involving a child born to two Chinese parents who were barred from citizenship under the Chinese Exclusion Acts.

In an 1898 case, Wong Kim Ark, the justices acknowledged a few exceptions but birth to noncitizen parents wasn’t one of them.

The exceptions were children born to diplomats, those born to mothers in an enemy army occupying U.S. territory, and children born on Native American tribal lands, which at that time were considered outside of U.S. jurisdiction because tribes have quasi-sovereignty.

Congress has since extended birthright citizenship to those born on tribal lands.

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.