Bindczyck v. Finucane, Chairman of the Board of Immigration Appeals, et al. (342 U.S. 76)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided November 26, 1951 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 342 U.S. 76 · 72 S. Ct. 130
- Decided
- November 26, 1951
- Term
- October Term 1951
- Vote
- 5–2
- Majority author
- Justice Frankfurter
- Issue area
- Civil Rights
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Frankfurter delivered the opinion of the Court. On December 2, 1943, the Circuit Court of Frederick County, Maryland, issued a certificate of naturalization to petitioner after proceedings that conformed with the requirements of the Nationality Act of 1940. 54 Stat. 1137, 8 U. S. C. § 501 ff. Seven days later, and at the same term of court, the Government moved to vacate and set aside the order of naturalization, claiming on evidence outside the record that it was obtained by fraud and. that therefore the citizenship was illegally procured. It is admitted that the requirements of § 338 of the Nationality Act, wherein Congress made specific provision for “revoking . . . the order admitting ... to citizenship ... on the ground of fraud or on the ground that such order . . . [was] illegally procured,” were not, followed. Instead, the Maryland court exercised its general power under Maryland .law to' set aside judgments during the term of court in which they were rendered. We brought this case here to determine whether the requirements of § 338 control the revocation of citizenship on the ground of fraud or on the ground that it was illegally procured; or whether the grant of citizenship by the courts of the forty-eight States is subject to whatever summary control State courts may have over their merely local judgments. The questions are of obvious importance in the…
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