SAHNI ARTICLE 3.3.21 (WORD) (DO NOT DELETE) 118 Gonzaga Journal of International Law 5/6/2021 7:21 PM Vol. 24:2 The nationality is the individual’s birth right. A child born in State X will receive the nationality of State X even if his parents are nationals of another State. (2) Under the jus sanguinis or ‘right of blood’ principle, an offspring receives nationality of a State of which a parent is a national. 57 The nationality is the child’s birth inheritance. Thus, State A, of which a parent is a national, will award nationality to a child born in State A or State X. 2. What is the Right to Citizenship? As discussed above, there is no legal definition of the right to nationality or the right to citizenship in international law. International instruments refer to ‘nationality’ but do not define [it], whereas domestic legal systems lack uniform legal interpretations of the terms ‘nationality’ and ‘citizenship.’ The statutes or constitutions of countries either omit any definitions or imply or expressly state that ‘citizenship’ is or is not the equivalent to ‘nationality.’ To illustrate, U.S. federal laws can provide some clarity in comparison to the laws of some other countries. They define ‘nationality’ and ‘citizen’ and interpret the terms interchangeably in certain circumstances. The identification phrase “national of the United States” means a person who is a citizen.58 The Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution explains who can qualify as a citizen. “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside.”59 In United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898),60 the U.S. Supreme Court specified that the jus soli principle applied to children of non-U.S. citizens. 61 A child born in the U.S. was a U.S. citizen even if his parents resided in the U.S. lawfully as foreign nationals.62 The due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment further prohibit any U.S. state from depriving individuals of their citizenship rights arbitrarily. 63 The Fourteenth Amendment applies in its entirety to citizens who are born or naturalized in a U.S. state.64 Section 8 U.S.C. § 1408 limits the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment by excluding ‘non-citizen nationals.’65 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. See id. at 617. 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(22) (2014). U.S. CONST. amend. XIV, § 1. United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649 (1898). Id. at 702, 705. Id. at 664, 694, 702, & 704. Id. at 654-55, 688, 702, & 704-05; see also, U.S. CONST. amend. XIV, § 1; Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U.S. 356 (1886); Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1857). 64. U.S. CONST. amend. XIV. 65. See 8 U.S.C. § 1408 (1965).