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Ava DuVernay announces '14th' documentary
on birthright amendment contested by Trump
[July 17, 2026]
By JAKE COYLE
NEW YORK
(AP) — Ava DuVernay announced Thursday that she has made a documentary
for Netflix on the 14th Amendment, which gave liberty and rights to
formerly enslaved people following the Civil War, and which has come
under legal attack from President Donald Trump.
Netflix
said Thursday that it will release “14th” later this year. The film will
mark a return to nonfiction for DuVernay, the filmmaker of “Selma” and
“Origin,” and a follow-up to DuVernay's 2016 film “13th,” her
examination of the legacy of the 13th Amendment, which abolished
slavery.
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This image released by Netflix shows director Ava DuVernay, left, with
14th librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden, during the filming of the
documentary “14th" about the 14th amendment, which gave liberty and
rights to formerly enslaved people following the Civil War. (Paul Garnes/Netflix
via AP) |
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The
14th Amendment has been a prominent target of Trump's. On the
first day of his second term, he signed an executive order that
would have heavily restricted birthright citizenship as
protected by the amendment. In June, the Supreme Court struck
down Trump’s order by a 6-3 vote.
The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868 during Reconstruction
states: “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.” The
constitutional amendment nullified the 1857 Supreme Court
decision Dred Scott v. Sandford, which had held that those
descended from slaves couldn't be citizens.
DuVernay said her film will detail how the 14th Amendment became
“a permanent argument.” It will feature politicians, historians
and cultural voices.
“If ‘13th’ asked who gets caged, then ‘14th’ asks who gets
counted,” DuVernay said in a statement. “This is not a film
about the past tense of freedom. I’m not interested in asking
you to look back. The film asks what kind of country is being
written beneath our feet now … while we’re busy believing the
stories we’ve all been told.”
Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the court, upheld the
protections of the amendment, which makes a citizen of anyone
born in the country, with very limited exceptions.
“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to
freely participate in our political community. The Framers of
the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to ‘every
free-born person in this land,’” wrote Roberts. “We keep that
promise today.”
Trump has vowed to continue to contest the Supreme Court's
ruling. Following the decision, he wrote on Truth Social: “This
miscarriage of justice will destroy America if they don’t change
their absolutely insane decision.”
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