Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Pangilinan et al. (486 U.S. 875)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 17, 1988 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 486 U.S. 875 · 108 S. Ct. 2210
- Decided
- June 17, 1988
- Term
- October Term 1987
- Vote
- 8–0
- Majority author
- Justice Scalia
- Issue area
- Civil Rights
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court. The respondents, 16 Filipino nationals who served with the United States Armed Forces during World War II, claim they are entitled to apply for and receive American citizenship under a special immigration statute that expired over 40 years ago, §§ 701 to 705 of the Nationality Act of 1940, Ch. 876, 54 Stat. 1137, as amended by the Second War Powers Act of 1942, § 1001, Ch. 199, 56 Stat. 182, 8 U. S. C. §§ 1001 to 1005 (1940 ed., Supp. V) (1940 Act). In the decisions below the Ninth Circuit has, for the third time, ordered naturalization under that expired provision. See Mendoza v. United States, 672 F. 2d 1320 (CA9 1982), rev’d, 464 U. S. 154 (1984); INS v. Hibi, 475 F. 2d 7 (CA9), rev’d, 414 U. S. 5 (1973). In part because the decision below was in direct conflict with the Second Circuit’s decision in Olegario v. United States, 629 F. 2d 204 (CA2 1980), cert. denied, 450 U. S. 980 (1981), we granted certiorari. H — I ¡> In March 1942, Congress amended the immigration laws to make American citizenship more readily available to aliens who served honorably in the United States Armed Forces during World War II. As amended at that time, § 701 of the 1940 Nationality Act exempted those aliens from such naturalization requirements as five years of residency in the United States and proficiency in the English language. ' Section 702…
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