Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/344/133/
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 00:54:00+00:00

Document:
1. Under the Expatriation Act of 1907, a United States citizen by birth who by foreign law derives from his parents citizenship of a foreign nation held not to have lost his United States citizenship by foreign residence long continued after attaining his majority. Pp. 344 U. S. 135-139.
(a) In such case, the native-born citizen, by continuing to reside in the foreign country after attaining his majority, cannot be deemed to have elected between his dual citizenships in favor of that of the foreign country; and, when he attained his majority, he was under no statutory duty to make an election and to return to this country for permanent residence if he elected United States citizenship. Pp. 344 U. S. 135-139.
(b) Perkins v. Elg, 307 U. S. 325, is not to the contrary. Pp. 344 U. S. 138-139.
(c) The dignity of citizenship which the United States Constitution confers as a birthright upon every person born within its protection is not to be withdrawn or extinguished by the courts except pursuant to a clear statutory mandate. P. 344 U. S. 139.
2. One of the grounds of decision relied on by the District Court, based on the citizen's having served in the army of the foreign country and taken an oath of allegiance to that country, was abandoned by the Government, the Attorney General having ruled that such service and oath had been taken under legal compulsion amounting to duress. P. 344 U. S. 135.
90 U.S.App.D.C. 1121, 193 F.2d 920, reversed.
In an action brought by petitioner to establish his citizenship, the District Court gave judgment against him. The Court of Appeals affirmed. 90 U.S.App.D.C. 1121, 193 F.2d 920. This Court granted certiorari. 343 U.S. 976. Reversed, p. 344 U. S. 139.
This case presents but a single question, upon which petitioner and the Government are substantially agreed that the judgment of the Court of Appeals should be reversed. [Footnote 1] Does a United States citizen by birth who by foreign law derives from his parents citizenship of a foreign nation lose his United States citizenship by foreign residence long continued after attaining his majority?
Petitioner Mandoli was born in this country, of unnaturalized Italian parents. These circumstances made him a citizen of the United States by virtue of our Constitution, and a national of Italy by virtue of Italian law. While he was a suckling, his parents returned to Italy, taking him with them. At about the age of fifteen, he sought to come to the United States, but permission was refused by the American Consul at Palermo upon the ground that he was too young to take the journey unaccompanied.
States for prosecution of an action to establish his citizenship.
The Government abandoned the first ground because the Attorney General ruled that such service in the Italian army by one similarly situated could "only be regarded as having been taken under legal compulsion amounting to duress." He said, "The choice of taking the oath or violating the law was, for a soldier in the army of Fascist Italy, no choice at all." [Footnote 3] The Court of Appeals, however, relying largely on Perkins v. Elg, 307 U. S. 325, affirmed upon the ground that failure to return to the United States upon the attainment of his majority operated to extinguish petitioner's American citizenship. [Footnote 4] We conclude that Mandoli has not lost his citizenship.
"the right of expatriation is a natural and inherent right of all people, indispensable to the enjoyment of the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,"
"any declaration, instruction, opinion, order, or decision of any officers of this government which denies, restricts, impairs, or questions the right of expatriation is hereby declared inconsistent with the fundamental principles of this government. [Footnote 5]"
But this statute left unanswered many questions as to the overt acts that would effect a voluntary expatriation by our own citizens or would cause an involuntary forfeiture of citizenship. Prior to 1907, courts and administrators were left to devise their own answers.
the citizen during nonage is a passive beneficiary of foreign naturalization proceedings. It held that Miss Elg had acquired a derivative dual citizenship, but had not suffered a derivative expatriation. In affirming her right to return to and remain in this country, it did not hold that it was mandatory for her to do so.
We find no warrant in the statutes for concluding that petitioner has suffered expatriation. And, since Congress has prescribed a law for this situation, we think the dignity of citizenship which the Constitution confers as a birthright upon every person born within its protection is not to be withdrawn or extinguished by the courts except pursuant to a clear statutory mandate. [Footnote 12] The judgment of the Court of Appeals should be reversed, with directions to remand the case to the District Court for the entry of an order declaring that the petitioner is a citizen of the United States.
Certiorari was granted without opposition, 343 U.S. 976.
90 U.S.App.D.C. 1121, 193 F.2d 920.
15 Stat. 223, 8 U.S.C. § 800.
H.R.Doc.No.326, 59th Cong., 2d Sess., p. 23; see also 74, 79, 160 et seq.
Administrative practice, when involving protections abroad, involves very different policy considerations, and is not controlling here. However, while not always consistent, it seems to have settled to the rule we apply in this case. 3 Hackworth, Digest of International Law, 371; see also Nielsen, Some Vexatious Questions Relating to Nationality, 20 Col.L.Rev. 840, 954.
See Hearings before House of Representatives Committee on Immigration and Naturalization on H.R. 9980, 76th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 32.
See also § 350 of Pub.L. No.414, 82d Cong., 2d Sess., 66 Stat. 163, 269.
The question of whether the statutory grounds under the 1940 Act exclude other acts that will amount to voluntary expatriation was reserved in Kawakita v. United States, 343 U. S. 717, 343 U. S. 730-732. It is not present in this case.
MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE, MR. JUSTICE REED, and MR. JUSTICE CLARK concur, dissenting.
Italian Army and served there from April 14, 1931, to September 5, 1931.
If we are to base our decision on the record, we would be compelled to affirm. For it is plain that petitioner did take an oath of allegiance to a foreign state. The Court, however, ignores the record and rests on an opinion of the Attorney General in another case (cf. MR. JUSTICE JACKSON concurring, McGrath v. Kristensen, 340 U. S. 162, 340 U. S. 176), saying that one who took an oath in the Army of Fascist Italy did so under duress. We have no basis for knowing that every inducted soldier who took an oath in Mussolini's army did so under duress. For all we know, this American citizen took the oath freely and gladly. At least, he took it. If we acted in the role of Secretary of State or Attorney General, we might exercise our discretion in favor of the citizen and decide not to move against him on such a showing. But we sit not as cabinet officers but as judges to decide cases on the facts of the records before us.

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