(Slip Opinion)
OCTOBER TERM, 2016
1
Syllabus
NOTE: Where it is feasible, a syllabus (headnote) will be released, as is
being done in connection with this case, at the time the opinion is issued.
The syllabus constitutes no part of the opinion of the Court but has been
prepared by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the reader.
See United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co., 200 U. S. 321, 337.
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
Syllabus
SESSIONS, ATTORNEY GENERAL v. MORALES
SANTANA
CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR
THE SECOND CIRCUIT
No. 15–1191. Argued November 9, 2016—Decided June 12, 2017
The Immigration and Nationality Act provides the framework for ac
quisition of U. S. citizenship from birth by a child born abroad, when
one parent is a U. S. citizen and the other a citizen of another nation.
Applicable to married couples, the main rule in effect at the time here
relevant, 8 U. S. C. §1401(a)(7) (1958 ed.), required the U. S.-citizen
parent to have ten years’ physical presence in the United States prior
to the child’s birth, “at least five of which were after attaining” age
14. The rule is made applicable to unwed U. S.-citizen fathers by
§1409(a), but §1409(c) creates an exception for an unwed U. S.-citizen
mother, whose citizenship can be transmitted to a child born abroad
if she has lived continuously in the United States for just one year
prior to the child’s birth.
Respondent Luis Ramón Morales-Santana, who has lived in the
United States since he was 13, asserts U. S. citizenship at birth
based on the U. S. citizenship of his biological father, José Morales.
José moved to the Dominican Republic 20 days short of his 19th
birthday, therefore failing to satisfy §1401(a)(7)’s requirement of five
years’ physical presence after age 14. There, he lived with the Do
minican woman who gave birth to Morales-Santana. José accepted
parental responsibility and included Morales-Santana in his house
hold; he married Morales-Santana’s mother and his name was then
added to hers on Morales-Santana’s birth certificate. In 2000, the
Government sought to remove Morales-Santana based on several
criminal convictions, ranking him as alien because, at his time of
birth, his father did not satisfy the requirement of five years’ physical
presence after age 14. An immigration judge rejected Morales
Santana’s citizenship claim and ordered his removal. Morales