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Smita Ghosh: A friend of the court in Birthright Citizenship case
Her amicus brief argues Constitution protects birthright citizenship, challenging administration’s restrictive interpretation before Supreme Court.
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Jeffin T. Kaleekal - Thu, 02, Apr 2026
- 01:40 EDT
- 22
Attorney Smita Ghosh / Smita Ghosh via LinekdIn
Hiding in the background of the legal defense of one of the most consequential citizenship debates in the United States is Indian American attorney Smita Ghosh, a senior appellate counsel at the Constitutional Accountability Center, who filed an amicus brief in the case.
As the debate over birthright citizenship intensifies, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on April 1 on whether an executive order by President Donald Trump can alter the long-standing constitutional guarantee of citizenship for people born in the United States, regardless of their parents’ immigration status.
The case, known as Trump v. Barbara, also drew attention as Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to attend court proceedings. Ghosh’s legal position challenged the administration’s interpretation of birthright citizenship.
Ghosh, along with Elizabeth B. Wydra and Brianne J. Gorod, participated as amici curiae in support of the respondents.
ALSO READ: Padma Lakshmi says birthright citizenship provides certainty amid legal debate
Amicus curiae, or “friends of the court,” are individuals or organizations not directly involved in a lawsuit who provide legal arguments or expertise to assist the court in cases of public importance.
Ghosh serves as senior appellate counsel at the Constitutional Accountability Center. Before joining the organization, she was a research fellow at Georgetown University Law Center, where she taught courses on immigration law and separation of powers.
She has also served as a Supreme Court fellow at the U.S. Sentencing Commission and as a law clerk for Judge Victor Bolden of the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.
Ghosh graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and holds a Ph.D. in American history from the University of Pennsylvania. She earned her undergraduate degree with high honors from Swarthmore College.
In 2020, she was named a Kathryn T. Preyer Scholar by the American Society for Legal History for her paper, ‘Policing the ‘Police State’: Detention, Supervision, and Deportation During the Cold War.’
Following oral arguments, Ghosh said in a statement, “At the Court this morning, many justices appeared skeptical of the Trump administration’s effort to withhold birthright citizenship from children of undocumented or temporarily present parents.”
She added, “Even justices appointed by President Trump pushed back against the administration’s citizenship rule. Justices Barrett and Gorsuch challenged the government’s insistence that the citizenship of an infant born in the United States would turn on their parent’s domicile, underscoring the frailty of the administration’s reliance on domicile.”
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