Fisher: Citizenship, Federalism, and Delayed Birth Registration 2024] C ITIZENSHIP, F EDERALISM, AND DELAYED BIRTH R EGISTRATION 71 delayed birth registration presents a new model of cooperative federalism: dual concurrence federalism. A. Variation in State Law on Delayed Birth Registration: Two Scenarios It is through a state’s action to record a birth that a person can demonstrate their entitlement to U.S. citizenship—or, conversely, through the state’s refusal to register a birth that leaves a person without a way to demonstrate that entitlement. Federal agencies play a coordinating role in birth registration, including providing funding, compiling statistics from birth registration, and suggesting model forms and laws. But birth registration is ultimately governed by state law with very little federal oversight. 129 Sharp variations in state law and procedures about birth registration mean that two people seeking to register their birth based on identical evidence but in two different states may achieve different results, depending on the applicable laws of the state where they were born. This Section demonstrates the administrative aspects of state law that result in federal benefits of recognition as citizenship, contributing to “the undertheorized nature of the administrative law of federal-state cooperative relationships.” 130 It explores this concept by considering two case studies loosely based on Alecia Pennington’s situation. Alecia applied for birth registration when she was over the age of 18, and her parents refused to assist her in registering her birth. 131 She had three pieces of evidence: an “old record” from an orthodontist; a letter from her uncle, a doctor, who treated her as a child; and an affidavit from her grandmother, who was present at her birth. 132 This Section will assume additional details for two fictional registrants who, like Alecia, attempt to register their births and explore whether each individual could register in various jurisdictions. For fictional registrant Blair, we will assume that the records were issued when the registrant was relatively young. For fictional registrant Cruz, we will assume newer records issued farther in time from the applicant’s birth. A word of caution is required in these predictions of outcomes under state law, as state law may lack precision, be supplemented by additional 129. 130. 131. 132. NRC, Vital Statistics, supra note 35 (“The Role of State and Local Health Departments”). Remus, supra note 10, at 251 (citing Fahey, supra note 13). RadioLab, supra note 2. RadioLab, supra note 2. Published by IdeaExchange@UAkron, 2025 23