Court Opinion

ID: 9431267
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:31:50.919357+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:27.768582
License: Public Domain

Justice Stevens,
with whom
Justice Marshall and Justice Blackmun join, concurring in the judgment.
American citizenship is “a right no less precious than life or liberty.” Klapprott v. United States, 335 U. S. 601, 616-617 (1949): (Rutledge, J., concurring in result). For the native-born citizen it is a right that is truly inalienable. For the naturalized citizen, however, Congress has authorized a special procedure that may result in the revocation of citizenship. That statute provides that a certificate of naturalization may be canceled and an order granting citizenship revoked if the Government proves that “such order and certificate of naturalization were illegally procured or were procured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation.” 8 U. S. C. § 1451(a).1
In this case thfe Government maintains that petitioner is subject to denaturalization because it has proved that he made certain misrepresentations in his 1947 Application for Immigration Visa (Quota), which he repeated in his October 23, 1953, Petition for Naturalization. He stated that his date of birth was October 4, 1913, when it in fact was September 21,1915; he stated that his place of birth was Kaunas, Lithuania, when it was in fact Reistru. He asserted that he *785resided in Kedainiai, Lithuania, only through July 1941, when in fact he did not leave Kedainiai until October 1941. He failed to disclose that he had been a bookkeeper-clerk in a Kaunas brush and broom establishment during the war. The Government failed in its efforts to prove that petitioner would have been denied a visa if he had disclosed the true facts in his application. It also failed to prove that truthful responses would have led to a more complete investigation of petitioner’s background before granting him a visa or that an investigation would have revealed any fact that would have disqualified petitioner from obtaining a visa. Indeed, the Government failed to prove the existence of any fact that, if known, would have led to the denial of petitioner’s visa application or disqualified him from later becoming an American citizen.
In support of its position that petitioner’s false statements in 1947 and 1953 justify his denaturalization the Government makes two separate legal arguments. First, it argues that the misrepresentations were “material” within the meaning of § 1451(a) and that they procured petitioner’s citizenship. Second, the Government urges that petitioner’s citizenship was “illegally procured,” because his misrepresentations — even if not material — demonstrate that he lacked the requisite good moral character at the time of his application for citizenship.- Neither argument is tenable.
I
Over a quarter of a century ago, in Chaunt v. United States, 364 U. S. 350 (1960), the Court considered a case in which the District Court found that petitioner had concealed his membership in the Communist Party as well as three arrests that, had they been disclosed, would have led to further investigation by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Although the dissenting Justices thought that Chaunt’s failure to tell the truth about his arrest record was sufficient reason to revoke his citizenship, see id., at 360, the majority *786came to the contrary conclusion. It held that the Government had failed to prove “either (1) that facts were suppressed which, if known, would have warranted denial of citizenship or (2) that their disclosure might have been useful in an investigation possibly leading to the discovery of other facts warranting denial of citizenship.” Id., at 355. Thus we announced a test for whether citizenship was procured by a material misrepresentation that required the Government to prove the existence of a disqualifying fact. This result was compelled both by the statute’s requirement that the misrepresentation be material and by the requirement that it procure citizenship. The controversy between the parties here makes it necessary to parse the statute, paying particular attention to the meaning of the word “material.” That parsing, however, merely confirms the conclusion we reached in Chaunt.
“Material” means “having real importance” or “great consequences.” Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary 733 (1983). The adjective “material” is widely used to distinguish false statements that are actionable at law from those that are not. In the context of criminal false statements, the term “material” has been said to require that the false statement be one that had “a natural tendency to influence, or was capable of influencing, the decision of” the decisionmaking body to which it was addressed. See ante, at 770. In tort law, a misrepresentation is material if “a reasonable man would attach importance to its existence or nonexistence in determining his choice of action in the transaction in question.” Restatement (Second) of Torts § 538, p. 80 (1977). In contract law, a misrepresentation is material if “it would be likely to induce a reasonable person to manifest his assent.” Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 162, p. 439 (1981).
In all of these contexts, the use of the word “material” serves to distinguish the trivial from the substantive, drawing the line between statements that appear to be capable of *787influencing an outcome and those that do not. It is reasonable to assume that the term serves the same role in the denaturalization statute. It guarantees that trivial misstatements do not result in the loss of citizenship by making actionable only those that are capable of influencing the decision whether to confer citizenship. This principle may be stated more specifically. Unlike the decision to enter a contract or to do some act in detrimental reliance on the assertion of another, the decision whether to grant citizenship is an objective one. The applicant either does or does not possess the requisite qualifications. The process relies on facts, not hunches or intuitions. Thus, in the denaturalization context, the only statements that are capable of influencing the outcome are those that conceal disqualifying facts or that prevent or hinder the discovery of disqualifying facts. Our statement in Chaunt was not a rejection of the traditional definition of materiality, it was merely an acknowledgment of the realistic consequences of that term’s use in the context of an objective decisionmaking process.
Our holding in Chaunt is also supported by the statutory requirement that there must be a causal connection between the misrepresentation and the award of citizenship. Section 1451(a) provides that the Government must demonstrate that the misrepresentation “procured” citizenship. That is, the statute requires that the Government demonstrate that it relied on the misrepresentation in deciding whether to allow the applicant to become a citizen. In imposing this causation requirement, the statute again merely tracks the law of actionable misrepresentation in other contexts. A. material misrepresentation, that is, a statement not in accordance with the truth that a reasonable person would attach importance to in deciding whether to enter a contract, may form the basis for voiding or reforming the contract, but only if the contracting party in fact relied on the statement in entering the contract. Restatement (Second) of Contracts §164. The material misrepresentation must have induced the re*788cipient of the statement to enter the contract.2 Likewise, in tort law, a person may recover for a loss resulting from another’s material misrepresentation, but only if he or she in fact relied upon the misrepresentation to his or her detriment. Restatement (Second) of Torts § 525. Although in both contract and tort law it is recognized that if a misrepresentation was material, the recipient probably relied on it, that probability does not alleviate the requirement that inducement be proved distinctly. Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 167.
If anything, the causation requirement of § 1451(a) is stricter than that in tort and contract law. The statute specifically requires that the material misrepresentation “procure” citizenship, not merely that it have been an inducement to granting citizenship. Thus it requires that the material misrepresentation must have had the effect of allowing the person to obtain citizenship when a truthful statement would have led directly or after investigation to the denial of citizenship. In other words, the Government must have relied on the statement in offering the defendant the opportunity to become a citizen. Although as is recognized in tort and contract law, it is likely that any material misrepresentation was relied on by the Government, this likelihood does not change the burden imposed by the statute.3
*789Thus the Government cannot prevail in a denaturalization action based on a false statement in an application for a naturalization certificate unless it can prove by clear, unequivocal, and convincing evidence the existence of a disqualifying fact. To prove that a misrepresentation was material, the Government must prove that the statement concealed a disqualifying fact or hindered the discovery of a disqualifying fact. Further, the existence of a disqualifying fact is a necessary element of the Government’s proof of reliance. Unless a disqualifying fact existed, it cannot be said that a misrepresentation “procured” citizenship. Section 1451(a) does not allow an individual who was in all ways qualified to be an American citizen to be deprived of that citizenship because of a false statement that did not prevent the discovery of a fact that would have affected his or her eligibility to become a United States citizen. Together and separately, the materiality and procurement requirements reflect congressional intent that citizenship status not be taken away unless the Government proves that the person was not qualified to hold that status at the time it was obtained.4
*790In his separate opinion in Fedorenko v. United States, 449 U. S. 490, 518 (1981), Justice Blackmun correctly pointed out that as construed by our decision in Chaunt the misrepresentation ground of § 1451(a) requires that the Government “prove the'existence of disqualifying facts.” Id., at 523-524.5 Until today, Justice White was the only Mem*791ber of the Court to have disagreed with this reading of the Chaunt opinion. Even today, it is not clear whether the Court disagrees with this interpretation of Chaunt, or simply rejects it based on its current notion of “the wisdom of experience.” See ante, at 769.
In my opinion, the wisdom of experience has provided firm support for Chaunt’s holding. Our construction of the denaturalization statute must be animated by our longstanding recognition of the severity of the sanction being sought. I firmly believe that denaturalization is far too heavy a sanction to impose on an otherwise innocent citizen for making false statements in 1947 and 1953. Without evidence of any wrongdoing before he came to the United States in 1948 or after he acquired his citizenship in 1954, the revocation of petitioner’s citizenship — a punishment that is tantamount to exile or banishment — is patently excessive.6
The wisdom of experience is further reflected in our prior cases imposing a special burden on the Government when it *792seeks to denaturalize an American citizen. Thus, in explaining why the Government’s burden of proof in this kind of civil proceeding is equivalent to that enforced in criminal cases, and why default judgments in denaturalization proceedings are intolerable, the Court has written:
“Denaturalization consequences may be more grave than consequences that flow from conviction for crimes. . . . This Court has long recognized the plain fact that to deprive a person of his American citizenship is an extraordinarily severe penalty. The consequences of such a deprivation may even rest heavily upon his children. 8 U. S. C. § 719. As a result of the denaturalization here, petitioner has been ordered deported. ‘To deport one who so claims to be a citizen, obviously deprives him of liberty .... It may result also in loss of both property and life; or of all that makes life worth living.’ Ng Fung Ho v. White, 259 U. S. 276, 284 [1922]. Because denaturalization proceedings have not fallen within the technical classification of crimes is hardly a satisfactory reason for allowing denaturalization without proof while requiring proof to support a mere money fine or a short imprisonment.
“Furthermore, because of the grave consequences incident to denaturalization proceedings we have held that a burden rests on the Government to prove its charges in such cases by clear, unequivocal and convincing evidence which does not leave the issue in doubt. Schneiderman v. United States, 320 U. S. 118, 158 [1943]. This burden is substantially identical with that required in criminal cases — proof beyond a reasonable doubt.” Klapprott v. United States, 335 U. S., at 611-612.
Virtually ignoring the foregoing settled law, today the Court announces a new burden-shifting presumption that lowers the standard of proof required for the Government to prevail in a denaturalization proceeding. Under the Court’s test, a misrepresentation or concealment is material if it con*793cerned a fact that was relevant to the naturalization decision or if the true facts “would predictably have disclosed other facts relevant to [the citizen’s] qualifications.” Ante, at 774. A fact may be relevant if it would have led to an investigation. Ante, at 775. Thus the Government becomes entitled to the presumption that the citizen was not qualified to become a citizen, that is, to the presumption that citizenship was “procured by” the misrepresentation, if it shows by clear and convincing evidence that the true facts would have led to further investigation. The citizen then bears the burden of “showing, through a preponderance of the evidence, that the statutory requirement as to which the misrepresentation had a natural tendency to produce a favorable decision was in fact met.” Ante, at 777 (emphasis in original). Since under the Court’s test the Government is never required to identify a specific disqualifying fact, apparently the citizen must refute the existence of every disqualifying fact that might have been revealed by an investigation. The Government need not introduce any proof whatsoever suggesting the existence of a disqualifying fact.
Though joining the Court’s opinion, Justice Brennan would require more. He would not allow the Government the benefit of the presumption unless it first produced “evidence sufficient to raise a fair inference that a statutory disqualifying fact actually existed.” Ante, at 783. Although Justice Brennan imposes a burden of production on the Government, he agrees with the majority that the burden of ultimate persuasion rests with the defendant. Under Justice Brennan’s approach, however, the defendant at least has the benefit of knowing specifically what disqualifying fact must be rebutted. Both approaches require the defendant to rebut the existence of the presumed disqualifying fact — even demonstrating that there is a completely innocent explanation for the misrepresentation would not be sufficient to rebut the presumption.
*794Neither the majority’s nor Justice Brennan’s formulation of shifting burdens is faithful to our previous recognition of the special burden the Government must bear when it seeks to denaturalize an American citizen or to our previous rejection of default judgments in denaturalization proceedings. See Klapprott v. United States, 335 U. S., at 611-612; supra, at 790-792.7 “[BJecause of the grave consequences incident to denaturalization proceedings,” Klapprott, *795335 U. S., at 612, this Court has always held that the Government must prove its charges in denaturalization cases by clear, unequivocal, and convincing evidence which does not leave the issue in doubt. We have recognized that this burden is substantially identical to the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt burden of proof borne by the Government in criminal cases. Ibid. Indeed, the factors that support the imposition of so heavy a burden are largely the same in both contexts — particularly critical are the immense importance of the interests at stake, ibid.; In re Winship, 397 U. S. 358, 363 (1970), the possibility of loss of liberty, Klapprott, 335 U. S., at 612; In re Winship, 397 U. S., at 363, the resultant stigmatization, Schneiderman v. United States, 320 U. S. 118, 122-23 (1943); In re Winship, 397 U. S., at 363, and the societal interest in the reliability of the outcome, id., at 363-364. The use of burden-shifting presumptions to reduce the Government’s burden of proof in criminal cases has been consistently rejected by this Court without regard to whether the presumptions were rebuttable. See Francis v. Franklin, 471 U. S. 307, 313 (1985), and cases cited therein. Such presumptions are equally objectionable in the denaturalization context.
II
The reasons why the Court has required the Government to carry a heavy burden of proof in denaturalization cases apply equally to the argument that petitioner is subject to denaturalization because his false statements demonstrate that he lacked good moral character in 1953.
As amended in 1961, § 1451(a) allows the Government to revoke the citizenship of anyone whose citizenship was “illegally procured.” In Fedorenko, we held that citizenship had been illegally procured because the petitioner, a former armed concentration camp guard, was ineligible for the visa he had been issued under the Displaced Persons Act of 1948 (DPA), 62 Stat. 1009. Because the naturalization statutes required applicants to be lawfully admitted to the United *796States for permanent residence,, petitioner had failed to “satisfy a statutory requirement which Congress has imposed as a prerequisite to the acquisition of citizenship by naturalization.” Fedorenko, 449 U. S., at 515. One prerequisite to naturalization is that the applicant be of “good moral character.” 8 U. S. C. § 1427(a). Certain minimum standards for being deemed in possession of good moral character are set out in 8 U. S. C. § 1101(f). Subsection 6 of § 1101(f) provides that no person shall be deemed to be of good moral character if he or she “has given false testimony for the purpose of obtaining any benefits under this chapter.” The Government contends that it is not necessary for it to establish that petitioner’s false statements were material to denaturalize him under this provision. Under the Government’s theory, the mere fact that the statements were false is sufficient to compel petitioner’s denaturalization if they were made under oath and with the subjective intention of obtaining a benefit — any benefit, no matter how trivial8 — under the natural*797ization laws. Because I am convinced that a materiality requirement is implicit in § 1101(f)(6), I reject this contention.
In Fedorenko v. United States, we were called upon to interpret the language of § 10 of the DP A, which provided that “[a]ny person who shall willfully make a misrepresentation for the purpose of gaining admission into the United States as an eligible displaced person shall thereafter not be admissible into the United States.” 62 Stat. 1013. We held, agreeing with the Government, that this provision applied “only [to] willful misrepresentations about ‘material’ facts.” 449 U. S., at 507. We found the implication of a materiality requirement in the DPA’s willful misrepresentation section to follow logically from our construction of § 1451(a) as having such a requirement even though its plain language requires only that the misrepresentation have been willful. That same logic applies here. There is no “material” distinction between the language of the DPA at issue in Fedorenko and the language of § 1101(f)(6). See United States v. Sheshtawy, 714 F. 2d 1038, 1041 (CA10 1983). It is implausi*798ble to suggest that Congress intended by the language of the DPA to engraft a materiality requirement, but had no such intention in drafting § 1101(f)(6).9
In addition to requiring materiality, both § 10 of the DPA and § 1101(f)(6) require that the false statement have been made for the purpose of obtaining a benefit under the immigration and naturalization laws. The Government would have us adopt a subjective test of the individual’s motive in any particular case, thus forcing the factfinder to inquire of the defendant in each case why the particular falsehood was asserted and insuring that many citizenship determinations would boil down to credibility battles. An objective test is far more reasonable. Under an objective approach, a false testimonial statement would be considered made “for the purpose of obtaining any benefits under [the immigration laws]” if it in fact had the effect of giving the defendant a benefit under the immigration laws. An objective test would eliminate the necessity of inquiring in each case whether a person lied about his or her date of birth for personal reasons, *799such as mere vanity, or to conceal information that would lead to the denial of a visa or certificate of naturalization.10 If the false statement as to age actually had the effect of obtaining for the individual a benefit he or she would not otherwise have enjoyed, then, and only then, would American citizenship have been “illegally procured.” An objective test is more consistent with the heavy burden of proof borne by the Government in denaturalization cases and with the severity of the sanction. Because states of mind are notoriously difficult to prove, an objective test also has the critical virtue of diminishing the risk of erroneous determinations.
It is obvious that there is some overlap between the scope of the misrepresentation and illegally-procured clauses of § 1451(a).11 That the Government may in some cases be able to choose one of two available paths for denaturalizing a citi*800zen for essentially the same conduct, however, does not suggest that either of the paths should be made more lenient than Congress intended.
*801III
The Government attempted to prove the existence of a disqualifying fact before the District Court by introducing videotaped deposition testimony, which it asserted proved petitioner’s participation in the Kedainiai atrocities. The District Court found the deposition testimony unreliable and admitted the depositions only for the limited purpose of establishing that the atrocities occurred.12 Because the Court of Appeals did not address the propriety of this ruling, I would vacate its judgment and remand the case for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.

 Although the denaturalization statute refers to “willful misrepresentation” and “concealment of a material fact” in the disjunctive, this Court has construed the statute to require that the concealment, no less than the misrepresentation, be willful and that the misrepresentation, no less than the concealment, relate to a material fact. See Costello v. United States, 365 U. S. 265, 271-272, n. 3 (1961); Fedorenko v. United States, 449 U. S. 490, 507-508, n. 28 (1981).

 Contract law also allows recovery for -reoranaterial statements if they are fraudulent. But even in this instance the misrepresentation must have induced the formation of the contract. Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 167 (1981).

 The following example, though admittedly unlikely, demonstrates the distinction in the roles played by the materiality and procurement elements. Suppose an individual appears to qualify for American citizenship on two distinct grounds. He or she claims to have lived in the United States the required number of years and to be “a person of good moral character, attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States, and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the United *789States.” See 8 U. S. C. § 1427(a). The individual also claims to be the surviving spouse of an American member of the Armed Forces who died while on active duty. See 8 U. S. C. § 1430(d). The claim to be a surviving spouse is false, but the other representations are true. The claim to be a surviving spouse is clearly material because it is capable of influencing the outcome of the naturalization process. However, if in fact citizenship was conferred because of the individual’s other qualifications, then the Government would not be able to demonstrate that the material misrepresentation “procured” citizenship.

 As I stated in Fedorenko v. United States, 449 U. S. 490 (1981):
“There are really three inquiries [under the Chaunt test]: (1) whether a truthful answer would have led to an investigation, (2) whether a disqualifying circumstance actually existed, and (3) whether it would have been discovered by the investigation. Regardless of whether the misstatement was made on an application for a visa or for citizenship, in my opinion the proper analysis should focus on the first and second components and attach little or no weight to the third. Unless the Government can prove the ex*790istence of a circumstance that would have disqualified the applicant, I do not believe that citizenship should be revoked on the basis of speculation about what might have been discovered if an investigation had been initiated. But if the Government can establish the existence of a disqualifying fact, I would consider a willful misstatement material if it were more probable than not that a truthful answer would have prompted more inquiry.” Id., at 537 (Stevens, J., dissenting).

 Justice Blackmun continued:
“First, this Court’s reasoning before Chaunt contains no suggestion that a naturalized citizen would be reduced to alien status merely because a thwarted Government inquiry might have shown him to be unqualified. Instead, the Court has been willing to approve denaturalization only upon a clear and convincing showing that the prescribed statutory conditions of citizenship had never been met. This, it seems to me, is the clear import of the Court’s exhaustive reviews in Nowak v. United States, 356 U. S., at 663-668; Knauer v. United States, 328 U. S., at 656-669; Baumgartner v. United States, 322 U. S., at 666-678; and Schneiderman v. United States, 320 U. S., at 131-159. Of course, the Government’s ability to investigate with vigor may be affected adversely by its inability to discover that certain facts have been suppressed. That standard announced by the Court of Appeals, however, seems to me to transform this interest in unhampered investigation into an end in itself. Application of that court’s standard suggests that a deliberately false answer to any question the Government deems worth asking may be considered material. I do not believe that such a weak standard of proof was ever contemplated by this Court’s decisions prior to Chaunt.
“Instead, I conclude that the Court in Chaunt intended to follow its earlier cases, and that its ‘two tests’ are simply two methods by which the existence of ultimate disqualifying facts might be proved. This reading of Chaunt is consistent with the actual language of the so-called second test; it also appears to be the meaning that the dissent in Chaunt believed the Court to have intended.
“Significantly, this view accords with the policy considerations informing the Court’s decisions in the area of denaturalization. If naturalization can be revoked years or decades after it is conferred, on the mere suspicion *791that certain undisclosed facts might have warranted exclusion, I fear that the valued rights of citizenship are in danger of erosion.” 449 U. S., at 524-526 (emphasis in original) (footnotes omitted).

 In his concurrence explaining why special procedural safeguards are appropriate in denaturalization proceedings, Justice Rutledge advanced an argument that further demonstrates the importance of the requirement that the Government prove the existence of a disqualifying fact. He wrote:
“To take away a man’s citizenship deprives him of a right no less precious than life or liberty, indeed of one which today comprehends those rights and almost all others. To lay upon the citizen the punishment of exile for committing murder, or even treason, is a penalty thus far unknown to our law and at most but doubtfully within Congress’ power. U. S. Const., Amend. VIII. Yet by the device or label or a civil suit, carried forward with none of the safeguards of criminal procedure provided by the Bill of Rights, this most comprehensive and basic right of all, so it has been held, can be .taken away and in its wake may follow the most cruel penalty of banishment.
“No such procedures could strip a natural-born citizen of his birthright or lay him open to such a penalty.” Klapprott v. United States, 335 U. S. 601, 616-617 (1949).

 In Schneiderman v. United States, 320 U. S. 118 (1943), a case in which the Government sought “to turn the clock back twelve years after full citizenship was conferred upon petitioner by a judicial decree, and to deprive him of the priceless benefits that derive from [citizenship] status,” we discussed the grave consequences of denaturalization and the special burden borne by the Government in denaturalization proceedings:
“In its consequences it is more serious than a taking of one’s property, or the imposition of a fine or other penalty. For it is safe to assert that nowhere in the world today is the right of citizenship of greater worth to an individual than it is in this country. It would be difficult to exaggerate its value and importance. By many it is regarded as the highest hope of civilized men. This does not mean that once granted to an alien, citizenship cannot be revoked or cancelled on legal grounds under appropriate proof. But such a right once conferred should not be taken away without the clearest sort of justification and proof. So, . . . in an action instituted ... for the purpose of depriving one of the precious right of citizenship previously conferred we believe the facts and the law should be construed as far as is reasonably possible in favor of the citizen. Especially is this so when the attack is made long after the time when the certificate of citizenship was granted and the citizen has meanwhile met his obligations and has committed no act of lawlessness. It is not denied that the burden of proof is on the Government in this case.
“... [A] certificate of citizenship is ‘an instrument granting political privileges, and open like other public grants to be revoked if and when it shall be found to have been unlawfully or fraudulently procured.’ ... To set aside such a grant the evidence must be ‘clear, unequivocal, and convincing,’ — ‘it cannot be done upon a bare preponderance of evidence which leaves the issue in doubt.’ . . . This is so because rights once conferred should not be lightly revoked. And more especially is this true when the rights are precious and when they are conferred by solemn adjudication, as is the situation when citizenship is granted.” Id., at 122-123, 125.

 At oral argument, counsel for the Government made the following remarks in response to questioning by a Member of the Court:
“QUESTION: You know, there are a lot of people that came to this country who were given different names at Ellis Island. The immigration officer couldn’t pronounce the name, and they said, well, Sam, is that okay? Yeah, that’s my name Sam. Now his name wasn’t Sam.
“Did he give that name to procure the visa, or to procure admission to the United States, falsely to procure?
“MR. KLONOFF [Assistant to the Solicitor General]: That’s a factual question in each case, we would submit.
“QUESTION: He just wants to facilitate the thing. The guy will never learn how to spell Salvator, or whatever the name is, and the officer — it’s happened very often.
“MR. KLONOFF: It has to be a question of fact. If the person had adopted a false I. D. many, many years earlier for a totally different purpose—
“QUESTION: No, no, there is no evil purpose except to facilitate getting in. I don’t want to be here, you know, trying to straighten out what *797the proper spelling of my name is. He says Sam, what do I care; Sam is fine.
“MR. KLONOFF: If he adopted a false identity to facilitate getting in and jumped ahead of the pack—
“QUESTION: Do you consider that facilitating getting in?
“MR. KLONOFF: We would.
“QUESTION: Just to facilitate — to make it quicker so the fellow doesn’t have to figure out how to spell Salvator.
“MR. KLONOFF: That would be our position. That’s consistent with the statutory—
“QUESTION: Wow, that’s a tough position, and I think there are probably a lot of people that are excludable.” Tr. of Oral Arg. 39-40.
The observation that a lot of people would be excludable (and a lot of Americans put at risk of losing their citizenship) under the Government’s interpretation is, of course, correct. The example instructs that misrepresentátions as to matters that are immaterial to the decisions being made by immigration officials simply do not reflect the lack of good moral character § 1101(f)(6) seeks to identify.

 It is somewhat ironic that both the Government and the Court accept the fact that a materiality requirement is implicit in the disjunctive reference to “willful misrepresentation” in § 1451(a), see ante, at 767, but reach a contrary conclusion with respect to § 1101(f)(6). Moreover, the implication of a materiality requirement in § 1101(f)(6) is consistent with the interpretation of 18 U. S. C. § 1015(a), which punishes the making of “any false statement under oath, in any case, proceeding, or matter relating to . . . naturalization, citizenship, or registry of aliens.” Courts have construed the statute to contain a requirement that the false statement be material. United States v. Bressi, 208 F. 369, 370-371 (WD Wash. 1913) (to constitute the crime of false swearing in a naturalization ease the testimony given had to be material even though the statute does not expressly so state); United States v. Laut, 17 F. R. D. 31, 34 (SDNY 1955) (courts have consistently construed § 1015(a) and its forebears to have a materiality requirement even though the statute does not expressly contain this limitation).

 Counsel for the Government asserted at oral argument:
“Let me just round the situation out. Let’s say that age is fundamentally important to the decision that’s being made, but the person doesn’t know this. He lies about his age not because he’s trying to obtain immigration benefit, but because his wife is sitting there next to him and throughout their marriage he has lied about his age and he doesn’t want to tell the truth.
“Now, that type of lie is willful. He clearly was lying deliberately, but he wasn’t lying to obtain immigration benefits.. . . He has made a material misrepresentation and it’s willful, but he doesn’t fit within the good moral character provisions.” Tr. of Oral Arg. 29-30.

 Although they overlap, they are not coterminous. Illegal procurement originally appeared as a ground for denaturalization in the Act of June 29, 1906, Pub. L. 59-338, § 15, 34 Stat. 601, which provided that denaturalization proceedings could be based “on the ground of fraud or on the ground that such certificate of citizenship was illegally procured.” The provision was retained in the Nationality Act of 1940, Pub. L. 76-853, 54 Stat. 1137. It was deleted, however, in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, Pub. L. 82-414, § 340(f), 66 Stat. 261, which substituted the provision that citizenship could be revoked if it was procured by “concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation.” The purpose of the change in language was to make'-elear that the statute en*800compassed both extrinsic and intrinsic fraud. S. Rep. No. 1515, 81st Cong., 2d Sess., 756, 769 (1950).
Illegal procurement was restored as an alternative ground for denaturalization by the Act of September 26, 1961, Pub. L. 87-301, § 18, 75 Stat. 656. It is clear from the legislative history that the purpose of the restoration was to allow denaturalization of persons who did not meet important statutory prerequisites for naturalization but who were not guilty of willful misrepresentation. See H. R. Rep. No. 1086, 87th Cong., 1st Sess., 1, 38-40 (1961). Congress was particularly concerned that criminal conduct such as rape, incest, and fraud could not form the basis for denaturalization without the illegally-procured provision. Although the illegally-procured provision may reach some of the conduct encompassed within the material misrepresentation provision, the illegally-procured provision has an independent and broader reach.
Further, the material misrepresentation provision reaches some conduct not assailable under the illegally-procured provision. The Government contends that construing the material misrepresentation provision to require proof of a disqualifying fact renders that provision meaningless since the Government could always seek denaturalization under the illegally-procured provision if it could prove a disqualifying fact. The Government apparently construes our holding on the facts in Fedorenko that citizenship may be considered illegally procured if it is discovered that the applicant failed at the time citizenship was conferred to meet a statutory prerequisite of citizenship as warranting the conclusion that every newly discovered noncompliance, no matter how insignificant, would warrant a subsequent finding that citizenship had been illegally procured. Thus, for example, an innocent miscalculation of the applicant’s period of physical presence within the United States or residence within a particular State, see ante, at 765, n. 2, would place a naturalized citizen’s status in permanent jeopardy. I disagree. I do not construe the illegally-procured provision to reach such trivialities despite the reality that an individual who submitted an application for citizenship one day before fulfilling the residency requirements would technically have failed to “satisfy a statutory requirement which Congress has imposed as a prerequisite to the acquisition of citizenship by naturalization.” Fedorenko, 449 U. S., at 515. However, if the Government could establish that a naturalized citizen had willfully misrepresented his or her time of residence and that he or she would have been denied citizenship if the true duration of residency had been known, that person would be subject to denaturalization under § 1451(a).

 The difference between this case and the Court’s hypothetical concerning an SS officer at Dachau, see ante, at 779, is critical. Proof by clear and convincing evidence that a naturalized citizen concealed his official status at Dachau would establish his lack of good moral character. In this case, however, there is no such proof of any official or unofficial connection between petitioner and the atrocities at Kedainiai.