Legal scholars argue Trump doesn't have the power to unilaterally overturn any element of the 14th Amendment. In fact, he would need a ton of support to achieve so: Either two-thirds of the House and Senate would have to vote in favour of changing the amendment's language or two-thirds of the state legislatures would have to call for a constitutional convention. This means his administration is setting itself up for a legal battle if he tries to revoke birthright citizenship via an executive order, just like when he first tried to implement his travel ban. "Birthright has been affirmed, again and again, ensuring that no matter how racist the regime, the Constitution grants citizenship to all people born in the United States," Martha Jones, professor of history at Johns Hopkins University and author of Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America , wrote in the Washington Post . "The 14th Amendment transformed our governing text into a document that protects those born in the United States from arbitrary and politically motivated bars to citizenship, including race, religion and party affiliation."