CASE NOTE
THE US SUPREME COURT IN SESSIONS v MORALESSANTANA: PREVENTING STATELESSNESS FOR
CHILDREN BORN ABROAD
HEATHER ALEXANDER*
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction........................................................................................................... 330
Facts ...................................................................................................................... 331
Issues..................................................................................................................... 332
Holding ................................................................................................................. 332
Reasoning.............................................................................................................. 332
Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 335
INTRODUCTION
This case note examines the 2017 United States Supreme Court case Sessions v
Morales-Santana (‘Morales-Santana’). 1 In the interests of gender equality and
equal protection under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, 2 the
Court made it more difficult for some US citizen women to pass on their
nationality to their children born abroad. This case is noteworthy to the global fight
against statelessness because it restricts the right to a nationality for children born
abroad under US law, specifically through changes to §§ 1401 and 1409 of the US
Immigration and Nationality Act. 3 In restricting US nationality law, the case
implicated the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (‘ICCPR’) 4
and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. 5 It also involved issues
of US constitutional interpretation not directly related to statelessness; specifically
the ‘Due Process Clause’ of the Fifth Amendment to the United States
Constitution.6
*
1
2
3
4
5
6
Heather Alexander is a PhD Candidate in Law at Tilburg University. Her work focuses on
nationality, statelessness, migration and refugees, with a particular focus on statelessness
among nomadic and mobile peoples. She has previously worked for United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees in Chad, Sri Lanka, Kosovo and Côte d’Ivoire.
(15-1191, 12 June 2017) (‘Morales-Santana’).
United States Constitution amend V (‘Fifth Amendment’).
Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 USC §§ 1401, 1409 (1952) (‘Immigration and Nationality
Act’).
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, opened for signature 16 December
1966, 999 UNTS 171 (entered in force 23 March 1976) art 24(3).
Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, opened for signature 30 August 1961, 989
UNTS 185 (entered into force 13 December 1975).
Fifth Amendment (n 2); Weinberger v Wiesenfeld, 420 US 636, 638 n 2 (1975).