Opinion ID: 164228
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Mathews v. Diaz

Text: 46 In Mathews v. Diaz, 426 U.S. 67, 96 S.Ct. 1883, 48 L.Ed.2d 478 (1976), the Court answered the question left open in Graham, holding that the federal government could impose a uniform residency requirement as a condition of receiving federal benefits. Mathews considered a federal law granting Medicare benefits to certain resident citizens 65 years of age and older, but denying eligibility to comparable aliens unless they had been admitted for permanent residence and had resided in the United States for at least five years. Id. at 70, 96 S.Ct. 1883. 47 The Court explained why Congress's broad constitutional powers over naturalization and immigration give it authority to treat aliens differently from citizens: 48 The fact that all persons, aliens and citizens alike, are protected by the Due Process Clause does not lead to the further conclusion that all aliens are entitled to enjoy all the advantages of citizenship or, indeed, to the conclusion that all aliens must be placed in a single homogeneous legal classification. For a host of constitutional and statutory provisions rest on the premise that a legitimate distinction between citizens and aliens may justify attributes and benefits for one class not accorded to the other; and the class of aliens is itself a heterogeneous multitude of persons with a wide-ranging variety of ties to this country. 49 In the exercise of its broad power over naturalization and immigration, Congress regularly makes rules that would be unacceptable if applied to citizens. The exclusion of aliens and the reservation of the power to deport have no permissible counterpart in the Federal Government's power to regulate the conduct of its own citizenry. The fact that an Act of Congress treats aliens differently from citizens does not in itself imply that such disparate treatment is  invidious.  50 In particular, the fact that Congress has provided some welfare benefits for citizens does not require it to provide like benefits for all aliens. ... 51 .... 52 For reasons long recognized as valid, the responsibility for regulating the relationship between the United States and our alien visitors has been committed to the political branches of the Federal Government. Since decisions in these matters may implicate our relations with foreign powers, and since a wide variety of classifications must be defined in the light of changing political and economic circumstances, such decisions are frequently of a character more appropriate to either the Legislature or the Executive than to the Judiciary. ... 53 ... In short, it is unquestionably reasonable for Congress to make an alien's eligibility depend on both the character and the duration of his residence. Since neither requirement is wholly irrational, this case essentially involves nothing more than a claim that it would have been more reasonable for Congress to select somewhat different requirements of the same kind. 54 Id. at 78-83, 96 S.Ct. 1883 (footnotes omitted) (emphasis added). 55 Mathews also distinguished Graham, recognizing that its equal protection analysis... involves significantly different considerations because it concerns the relationship between aliens and the States rather than between aliens and the Federal Government. Id. at 84-85, 96 S.Ct. 1883. It explained that 56 [i]nsofar as state welfare policy is concerned, there is little, if any, basis for treating persons who are citizens of another State differently from persons who are citizens of another country. Both groups are noncitizens as far as the State's interests in administering its welfare programs are concerned. Thus, a division by a State of the category of persons who are not citizens of that State into subcategories of United States citizens and aliens has no apparent justification, whereas, a comparable classification by the Federal Government is a routine and normally legitimate part of its business. 57 Id. at 85, 96 S.Ct. 1883.