Montana v. Kennedy

Background

A man who was born in Italy in 1906 and brought to the United States as an infant has lived here continuously and was ordered deported as an alien. His mother was a native-born U.S. citizen, his father an Italian citizen, and the parents had married in the United States while temporarily living in Italy. The man never became a naturalized citizen and sued under a statute asking a court to declare he was a citizen, relying on two old laws.

Reasoning

The Court considered whether the old 1802/1874 statute and a later 1855 statute gave him citizenship, and whether a 1907 law could apply if his mother had lost and then resumed her citizenship. The Justices concluded that the 1855 statute governed inherited citizenship at the time of his birth and that it conferred citizenship only through citizen fathers who had lived in the United States. The Court also held that the 1907 law required the mother to have lost and lawfully resumed citizenship, which did not occur here. The Court rejected the claim that U.S. officials’ conduct prevented it from treating him as foreign-born.

Real world impact

The decision means that people born abroad before Congress changed the rules in 1934 may not have inherited U.S. citizenship through an American mother if the father was foreign and the old statutes applied. It also upholds the lower court’s ruling, leaving this lifelong resident subject to deportation under the laws that governed his 1906 birth.

Dissents or concurrances

One Justice (Douglas) disagreed with the majority and filed a dissent.