to require a other to take affirmative steps there is no way to deem a mother absent here and so only a mother has the option of conferring citizenship in the situation regardless of whether the other a father can never confer with arliss of whether the mother is absence but the statute doesn't really deal with absence or presence it simply deals with  a gender neutral standards to be used here as well they are concerned with the absence of the parent where the other parent is deceased or not the smallest odeon after a legal separation but i don't see how this would help your client because if they here i don't i don't see how that would help you claim yes that's why we're proposing a standard that is not legitimation because legitimation itself is inherently a gendered standard so we have offered  most consistent with congress's intention in that two thousand act which allows naturalization through only one parent and that it's tracking the gendered language this way was the only way to cure the discriminatory aspects of the so the government's justification of protecting the parental rights of the non citizen parent is not exceedingly persuasive because it only endeavors to protect the rights of the non naturalizing mother where it is safe to  citizen their citizenship to children what out of wedlock that same categorical bar does not apply to mothers and does not apply with respect to children born of the marriage that is a discrimination based on gender  constitutional explanation that we gave about the structure of the statute i understand right and the reason that i am that i focus on the facts there is because those facts and form the discrimination claim that was brought up so the discrimina still you know i don't see how that would help her you miscarry speakers she knows who both her parents are and there is no relinquishment air of non legitimacy by the mother born out of wedlock and the maternity of the child has not been established by legitimation she knows who both her parents are so she is not in a situation where there is a question mark about either of her parents so it doesn't help or to change or expand the the gender application of this clause so i i don't understand how that resulting in any remedy for so so and maybe this is where we're speaking past each other of that so the last part about the maternity of the child has not been established by legit nation the reason that we're arguing that that legitimation requirement  and he had sex with a bunch of different people nine months ago he has no idea who the mother is that that would be the flip side of this in the in the statu would fit the criteria of the statute with opposite gender but it doesn't fit your client's situation soon she is not similarly situated to a person in that who could benefit and thirty two dollars impermissibly discriminates based on gender and legitimacy however this issue has already been decided by the court and bartholomew the court rejected the exact same challenge overturned the preliminary part of far which dealt with this notion that immigration is that you do not receive higher scrutiny even when they do discriminate against a suspect class concerned their challenge is for close to bar five and that is really the end of the cases in the government's opinion what explains that simply overrule the fact that immigration statutes are going they do discriminate against a suspect class they don't receive higher screening that's done away with but there is no suspect classification in this statute and you remain a good law for closing petitioners argument is a valid justification only with respect the child the interest that the government is advancing here is not related to the biological relationship between a pure and child but to their parental relationship and terms of caring for the child and things of that nature but there is no dispute in this case