(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Early Trump Resister NJ Attorney General Matt Platkin [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-01-22

The Democratic Resistance Begins–New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin Challenges Demagogue/FIC Donald’s Attack to End Constitutionally Guaranteed Birthright Citizenship– January 22, 2025

Unlike many Democrats who worry about “offending” voters with their policies even if they comfortably win elections advocating them, Demagogue/ FIC (Felon-in-Chief) Donald could care less. He behaves as if his narrow 1.5% popular vote was one “y uu ge” landslide and he can do anything he pleases now that he has, once again, taken the oath of office. He has immediately signed numerous executive orders that have cancelled former President Biden’s executive actions. We should not be surprised by Trump’s behavior. For example, anti-Obamacare Donald, who campaigned as a right-wing GOPer, rescinded Executive Order 14087 that Biden issued on October 14, 2022. That executive order lowered prescription drug costs for people covered by Medicare and Medicaid (dailykos.com, 1/20/25). No doubt, many of the people on these programs voted for him and often falsely yelled at Democrats to “keep their hands off their Medicare.” As Trump repeatedly promised, and despite strong public opposition, he pardoned the January 6, 2021 Capitol rioters whom he had incited to overthrow Biden’s election and for which the House impeached him.Trump called them “hostages.” The more than 1,500 jailed rioters included Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio who was sentenced to 22 years in prison by a Trump-appointed judge for seditious conspiracy against the U.S. That jurist found that Tarrio had engaged in an “official act of terrorism.” Another jailed “very fine person” whom Trump pardoned for his participation in the riot was Robert Keith Packer. On 1/06/21, Packer wore a shirt that read “Camp Auschwitz,” referring to the infamous WWII Nazi concentration camp where millions of Jews as well as Polish Catholics, Russians, and others were brutally murdered (See kos.com, 1/21/25). Demagogue/FIC Donald also signed orders withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accords and the World Health Organization, WHO (cnn.com). Most concerning of all, Trump signed an executive order to end birthright citizenship. Birthright citizenship has been understood to require under the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment that “All persons born or naturalized under the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States (nbcnews.com/politics, Gregorian, Ainsley, et al, 1/20/25, U.S. Constitution).” Trump has pushed ending birthright citizenship because he believes that it helps draw illegal immigrants into the U.S., his political obsession.

The U.S. principle of birthright citizenship came from English common law and predates the 1787 writing of the Constitution and the post-Civil War 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868. The 14th Amendment was passed to clarify that children of formerly enslaved African Americans were automatically entitled to U.S. citizenship. In 1898, in the case of “U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark,” the U.S. Supreme Court held that although Chinese parents under the Chinese Exclusion Act were ineligible to become U.S. citizens themselves, children of these immigrants were U.S. citizens if born in this country (huffpost.com, 1/21/25, Planas, R.). In 1940, Congress also passed a law codifying this birthright doctrine into federal statute, which remains on the books today (newhampshirebulletin.com, DeWitt, E., 1/21/25).

Since Trump’s narrow victory in the November, 2024 presidential election, many Democrats have wondered if their party leaders would rightfully resist any of his unconstitutional and draconian policies. Fortunately, the evidence is beginning to show that they will. On January 21, 2025, one day after his inauguration, a coalition of 18 “Blue”-led Democratic states along with Washington, D.C. and the city of San Francisco, CA sued to block Trump’s attack on the long and well-established principle of birthright citizenship in the U.S. Federal District Court in Massachusetts. This is the second major legal challenge to Trump’s attempt to stop the country’s automatic recognition of citizenship for the U.S.-born children of non-citizens. Immigrant rights advocates, the NAACP, and the ACLU filed a separate lawsuit in the U.S. Federal District Court in New Hampshire on the very day of Trump’s inauguration to block implementation of this executive order (huffpost.com, Planas, 1/21/25).

One of the main leaders in the birthright citizenship lawsuit by the 18-member “Blue State” anti-Trump coalition is Democratic New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin. Platkin called Trump’s executive order an “assault on the rule of law.” He added that Trump’s anti-birthright executive order “attacks a right that is core to our nation’s earliest days.” Platkin additionally declared, “The birthright citizenship clause in the 14th Amendment followed the only brief period in American history where the descendants of slaves were held not to be American citizens.This isn’t just an attack on the law. It’s an attack on the very fabric of this nation, this diverse nation, a nation of immigrants (northjersey.com, Sobko, K., 1/21/25).” Attorney General Platkin has the strong support of his Democratic Governor Phil Murphy in bringing this lawsuit. Should Trump’s anti-birthright order stand, thousands of babies born each year in NJ who would otherwise have been citizens would no longer enjoy the privileges and benefits of citizenship. These include access to social services, gainful employment, as well as the rights to vote, serve on juries, and run for certain offices (northjersey.com). Platkin’s suit says that Trump’s anti-birthright executive order would make states such as NJ lose federal funding in programs that they administer including Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, in addition to adoption assistance programs and foster care (northjersey.com., 1/21/25, Sobko). Other states that have joined Platkin in his January 21, 2025 filing include, New York, Connecticut, North Carolina, Nevada, Hawaii, California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Maine, and Wisconsin (northjersey.com, 1/21/25). Let’s meet Attorney General Platkin.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Garden State Attorney General Matt Platkin received both his undergraduate and law degrees from Stanford University. He was an editor of the Stanford Law Review and currently resides in Montclair, NJ (nj.gov/governor/news, 2/03/22). He started his career with the Brookings Institution and advised Congress on economic recovery after the 2008 financial crisis (naag.org).

Platkin served as Chief Counsel to NJ Governor Phil Murphy from January 2018 to October 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he drafted executive and workforce policies for NJ state government employees (naag.org/attorney -general). During 2020, Platkin took a leave to serve as U.S. Senator Cory Booker’s (D-NJ) special counsel during the first impeachment of Trump. That impeachment involved the charge of Trump’s withholding of military aid to Ukraine and its leader Volodmyr Zelensky unless Donald received “dirt” on his political rival Joe Biden (See Wildstein, D., 2/02/22, newjerseyglobe.com). After leaving the government, Platkin joined the approximately 350- attorney firm Lowenstein Sandler LLP as a partner in the white collar and business litigation groups (lowenstein.com/news-insights/firm-news).

On February 3, 2022, Gov. Murphy announced that he was appointing Platkin to serve as Acting Attorney General. Platkin became Acting Attorney General on February 14, 2022. After his confirmation by the NJ State Senate, Platkin assumed that position in full and became NJ’s 62nd Attorney General on September 29, 2022 (wiki, insidernj.com, 2/03/22, newjerseymonitor.com, 9/29/22). As NJ Attorney General, Platkin played a significant role in advancing legal issues related to criminal justice reform, environmental protections, and economic policy (Stephens, M., dailykos.com, 1/04/25). In the Attorney General’s office, Platkin also indicted on racketeering and extortion charges in June, 2024 a prominent Democratic power broker involved in state and federal politics ( Biryukov, N., newjerseymonitor.com, 6/18/24).

Platkin will need to use all the legal abilities and political savvy that he has to take on Demagogue/Felon-in-Chief Donald. He will need a top legal team to litigate against the Trump White House. If anyone can assemble a multi-state coalition to defend birthright citizenship, Platkin is quite suited for this task. We must encourage and support him and other Democratic Attorney Generals in their litigation efforts to combat Trumpism. Our democracy depends upon it.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/1/22/2298495/-Early-Trump-Resister-NJ-Attorney-General-Matt-Platkin?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/