President Donald Trump’s executive order denying U.S. citizenship to the children of parents living in the country illegally has faced the first of what will be many legal tests.

Birthright citizenship was a profound acknowledgment that those born here, regardless of parentage or circumstance, belong here. For over 150 years, this principle has been an unshakable centerpiece of our constitutional framework, accepted across political and ideological divides.

The policy was the result of African Americans pushing for decades to be recognized as full citizens and part of a trio of amendments — the 13th, 14th and 15th — that ended U.S. slavery and established citizenship and voting rights for some people of color.