| Afroyim v. Rusk | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||||||||||
| Argued February 20, 1967 Decided May 29, 1967 | ||||||||||||
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| Holding | ||||||||||||
| Citizenship may not be revoked without consent. | ||||||||||||
| Court membership | ||||||||||||
| Chief Justice: Earl Warren Associate Justices: Hugo Black, William O. Douglas, Tom C. Clark, John Marshall Harlan II, William J. Brennan, Jr., Potter Stewart, Byron White, Abe Fortas | ||||||||||||
| Case opinions | ||||||||||||
| Majority by: Black Joined by: Douglas, Warren, Brennan, Fortas Dissent by: Harlan Joined by: Clark, Stewart, White | ||||||||||||
| Laws applied | ||||||||||||
| Nationality Act of 1940; U.S. Const. amends. V, XIV | ||||||||||||
Afroyim v. Earl Warren ( March 19, 1891 July 9, 1974) was the 14th Chief Justice of the United States and the only person ever elected thrice Hugo LaFayette Black (February 27 1886&ndashSeptember 25 1971 was an American politician and jurist. William Orville Douglas ( October 16, 1898 – January 19, 1980) was a United States Supreme Court Associate Justice. Thomas Campbell Clark ( September 23, 1899 – June 13, 1977) was United States Attorney General from 1945 to 1949 and an Associate John Marshall Harlan (May 20 1899 – December 29 1971 was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court from 1955 to 1971 William Joseph Brennan Jr ( April 25, 1906 &ndash July 24, 1997) was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Potter Stewart ( January 23 1915 &ndash December 7 1985) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Byron Raymond White ( June 8, 1917 &ndash April 15, 2002) won fame both as a football Running back and as an associate justice of Abraham Fortas ( June 19, 1910 – April 5, 1982) was a US Supreme Court associate justice. The Fifth Amendment ( Amendment V) of the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, is related to legal procedure The Fourteenth Amendment ( Amendment XIV) to the United States Constitution is one of the post- Civil War Reconstruction Amendments, first Rusk, 387 U.S. 253 (1967), was a United States Supreme Court decision that set an important legal precedent that a United States citizen cannot be deprived of American citizenship involuntarily. Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past Court cases either in special series of books called reporters Year 1967 ( MCMLXVII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the federal judiciary. Stare decisis is a common law doctrine under which judges are obligated to follow the precedents established in prior decisions The United States of America —commonly referred to as the
Contents |
Facts
Beys Afroyim (1893-1984) was a Jewish artist born as Ephraim Bernstein in Ryki, Poland. Year 1893 ( MDCCCXCIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Year 1984 ( MCMLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar) PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ The definition of an artist is wide-ranging and covers a broad spectrum of Activities to do with creating Art, practicing the Arts and/or demonstrating Ryki is a Town in south-eastern Poland on the main road between Warsaw and Lublin. Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland In 1912 he immigrated to the United States. Year 1912 ( MCMXII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year starting In 1926 he became naturalized as a U. Year 1926 ( MCMXXVI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Naturalization is the acquisition of Citizenship or Nationality by somebody who was not a citizen or national of that country when he or she was born S. citizen. In 1950 he moved to Israel. Year 1950 ( MCML) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. He voted in an Israeli election in 1951. An election is a Decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold formal office Year 1951 ( MCMLI) was a Common year starting on Monday. Events of 1951 January In 1960, Afroyim tried to renew his U. Year 1960 ( MCMLX) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. S. passport, but the State Department refused on the ground that he had lost his citizenship by voting in a foreign election. Afroyim sued Dean Rusk in his official capacity as Secretary of State and head of the State Department, which is responsible both for issuing passports and for dealing with loss of citizenship. David Dean Rusk ( February 9, 1909 &ndash December 20, 1994) was the United States Secretary of State from 1961 to 1969 under presidents Secretary of State is a commonly used title for a Government Official.
Issue
At various times before 1967, U. S. law had provided for multiple ways for U. S. citizens to lose their citizenship, possibly without their consent, for example:
- Loss of citizenship could be used as a punishment (for example, for military desertion; see Trop v. Dulles)
- Women might lose their citizenship if they married a non-U. Trop v Dulles, 356 US 86 (1958 was a federal court case in the United States that was filed in 1955 and finally decided by the Supreme Court S. citizen (on the assumption that they would acquire their husband's nationality)
- U. S. citizens who became citizens of foreign countries might automatically lose their U. S. citizenship (see Bancroft Treaties)
- Naturalized citizens who established a residence outside the United States might lose their citizenship (another consequence of the Bancroft Treaties)
- U. The Bancroft treaties, also called the Bancroft conventions were a series of agreements between the United States and other countries that 1 recognized the right of each The Bancroft treaties, also called the Bancroft conventions were a series of agreements between the United States and other countries that 1 recognized the right of each S. citizens who voted in a foreign election might lose their U. S. citizenship (this is the law that affected Afroyim)
However, the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution says that: 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 Fourteenth Amendment ( Amendment XIV) to the United States Constitution is one of the post- Civil War Reconstruction Amendments, first Read literally, this would seem to imply that anyone born or naturalized in the United States is a U. S. citizen for life.
The Supreme Court had to decide whether it was constitutional to take away the citizenship of someone born or naturalized in the United States.
Majority opinion
The court ruled, in a 5-4 decision, that Afroyim's citizenship could not be taken away without his consent. The majority relied strongly on the history of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Amendment was written soon after the U.S. Civil War, in order to secure the rights of the freed slaves. Causes of the war See also Origins of the American Civil War, Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War The coexistence of a slave-owning South At this time, African Americans had already been made U. African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa S. citizens by the Civil Rights Act of 1866, and the original draft of the Amendment contained no definition of citizenship. Contents of Act & Controversy Throughout American history several pieces of legislation have been called the Civil Rights Act - this was the third such act However, some Senators were worried that a future Congress might reverse the Act, so they inserted the first clause of the Amendment in order to ensure that the blacks' citizenship was "permanent and secure". This guarantee would have been meaningless if Congress retained the power to strip citizens of their citizenship without their consent. The citizenship guarantees of the 14th Amendment were eventually held by the Supreme Court to apply to all Americans — not just the freed slaves and their posterity — in U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark, . United States v Wong Kim Ark,, was a United States Supreme Court decision that set an important legal precedent about what determines American Citizenship Year 1898 ( MDCCCXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common
The majority also pointed to the Titles of Nobility Amendment, a proposed constitutional amendment from the early nineteenth century. The Titles of Nobility Amendment (TONA is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution dating from 1810 It was passed by Congress in 1810 but never ratified by the states. Year 1810 ( MDCCCX) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year This amendment would have removed the citizenship of any U. S. citizen who accepted a title of nobility from a foreign government. The majority reasoned that the fact that this was passed as a constitutional amendment, rather than a simple law, shows that, even before the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment, Congress did not believe that it had the power to strip U. S. citizenship from anyone.
In ruling in Afroyim's favor, the court explicitly overruled its own earlier reasoning in Perez v. Brownell, , a case in which Congress's right to revoke U. Perez v Brownell, 356 US 44 ( 1958) was a case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States involving citizenship Year 1958 ( MCMLVIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. S. citizenship for voting in a foreign election had been upheld.
Minority opinion
The minority argued, in their dissent, that Perez v. Brownell had been correctly decided and should not be repudiated; that the 14th Amendment had not in fact stripped Congress of the power to revoke a person's U. S. citizenship for good cause; and that Congress was well within its rights to decide that allowing U. S. citizens to vote in foreign elections ran contrary to the foreign policy interests of the nation.
Effect
The decision had the following effects:
- No one who had become a U. S. citizen through birth in the United States or through naturalization could have citizenship taken away without consent. However, the question of how such consent might be indicated remained somewhat open. Until a later case — Vance v. Terrazas, — was decided by the Supreme Court, the U. Vance v Terrazas, 444 US 252 ( 1980) was a United States Supreme Court decision that established that a United States Year 1980 ( MCMLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar) S. government continued to hold to the view that intentionally performing an action which Congress had designated as expatriating (i. e. , citizenship-losing) could be interpreted as clear evidence of consent to lose U. S. citizenship.
- The statute calling for loss of U. S. citizenship for voting in a foreign election was eventually repealed by Congress, in 1978 (Public Law 95-432). This is a partial list of notable United States federal legislation, in chronological order
- The concept of dual citizenship, which was previously strongly opposed by the U. Multiple citizenship, or multiple nationality is a status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a Citizen under the laws of more than one state. S. government, has gradually become more accepted. State Department policy, which historically had been extremely dubious of dual citizenship, as of 2006 goes beyond the decision of Afroyim in allowing freedom to U. S. citizens to take advantage of multiple citizenships.
The decision did not change these other aspects of U. S. immigration law:
- Someone who committed fraud in the naturalization process (for example, by lying about themselves to U. S. immigration services) could still have their naturalization voided on the grounds that they had never truly been naturalized as U. S. citizens in the first place.
- Naturalization applicants could still be (and indeed, as of 2008, still are) required to make a statement under oath or affirmation, renouncing any prior allegiance to any foreign country or ruler, upon becoming a U. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common S. citizen. A naturalized citizen who behaved in a manner inconsistent with this oath (for example, by continuing to use the passport of their previous nationality) might—at least in theory—still be liable to loss of U. S. citizenship on the grounds that the oath had not been taken in good faith (and hence that the naturalization was fraudulent). However, U. S. State Department policy since 1990 has been not to pursue such cases.
- U. S. citizens who became naturalized in a foreign country might lose their citizenship if the foreign country required them to renounce their U. S. citizenship (this renunciation could be seen as consent to loss of U. S. citizenship). However, U. S. State Department policy since 1990 has been not to pursue such cases. (This did not apply to Afroyim because, as a Jew under Israel's Law of Return, he could take advantage of Israeli citizenship without having to go through any ceremony or swear any oath. The Law of Return ( Hebrew: חוק השבות ḥok ha-shvūt) is Israeli legislation originating in 1950 that gives Jews those of Jewish ancestry The question of Afroyim's presumed acquisition of Israeli citizenship, however, was never brought up in the U. S. courts as a potential reason for revoking his U. S. citizenship. )
In a 1980 case, Vance v. Terrazas, the Supreme Court ruled that intent to give up U. S. citizenship had to be proven by itself and could not simply be inferred from a person's having performed an action designated by Congress as expatriating. The determination of whether a U. S. citizen did indeed give consent to loss of citizenship, however, could be made upon a preponderance of evidence, rather than under the more stringent standard of "clear and convincing evidence". Changes of this nature were made to the citizenship law by Congress in 1986 (Public Law 99-653). However, U. S. State Department policy since 1990 has been to assume in almost all situations that an American who performs a potentially expatriating act did not in fact intend to give up U. S. citizenship, unless the person explicitly indicates such an intention to U. S. officials.
In 2005, a bill — H. For other uses see Bill. A bill is a proposed new law introduced within a Legislature that has not been ratified, adopted R. 3938 — was introduced in the 109th Congress which, if enacted into law, would have made it a felony for a naturalized U. In Common law legal systems a felony is a serious Crime, often contrasted with a Misdemeanor. S. citizen to vote in an election in, or use a passport from, their former country. Supporters of H. R. 3938 may have believed labeling such activity a criminal offense, but without seeking to use it as a reason to revoke the offender's U. S. citizenship, would sidestep objections based on the Afroyim and Terrazas rulings. This bill was never brought to a vote and died when the 109th Congress adjourned on January 3, 2007. Events 1431 - Joan of Arc is handed over to the Bishop Pierre Cauchon. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.
See also
References
- ^
- ^ Current State Department Policies on Dual Nationality and Loss of Citizenship — note particularly the "Administrative Standard of Evidence" section — see 67 Interpreter Releases 799 (23 July 1990) and 67 Interpreter Releases 1092 (1 October 1990)
External links
- Afroyim v. Rusk summary from OYEZ
- Summary of the case
- Web page discussing Afroyim's life and showing one of his paintings — from the web site of the Museum of the City of New York; please note that this site incorrectly claims that Afroyim's case "hinged on his ability to convince the Court that he had never voted in Israel"
- 2005 testimony before a Congressional committee criticizing Afroyim v. The Museum of the City of New York is an Art gallery and history Museum founded in 1923 to present the history of New York City and its people Rusk and opposing the right of U. S. citizens to vote in foreign elections
- "Number of dual citizens in U.S. soaring" — news story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette discussing dual citizenship and mentioning Afroyim v. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, also known simply as the "PG" is the largest daily Newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Multiple citizenship, or multiple nationality is a status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a Citizen under the laws of more than one state. Rusk
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