Court Voids Last Vestiges of Law on Citizenship Repealed in 1934

A federal appeals court struck down the lingering effects of a citizenship law repealed in 1934, claiming it discriminates against women.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld a U.S. District Court ruling in favor of Valerie Wauchope, who sued after she was denied a U.S. passport on a visit to San Francisco in 1989.

Wauchope protested a law that granted citizenship to people whose fathers were U.S. citizens but denied it to people whose mothers were U.S. citizens. The law was repealed in 1934 but still applied to people born before that year.

Wauchope, who was born in Canada in 1931 to a U.S. citizen mother and a Canadian father, was joined in the suit by Ellen Kinahan. Kinahan was born in 1925 in Ireland to a U.S. citizen mother and an Irish father.

Susana Igleheart, lawyer for the women, said about six similar claims are pending locally along with others elsewhere in the country. But, she said, “this is a dying class.”

U.S. District Judge Robert Peckham first ruled the law invalid in another case in 1989, but the government did not appeal that decision. Tuesday’s ruling, unless overturned, applies in California and eight other Western states covered by the circuit.

The court rejected the government’s argument that the law was an attempt to avoid the problem of dual nationality. It also rejected the government’s claim that courts have no power to grant citizenship.

A 1988 Supreme Court ruling, declaring that courts cannot overrule denials of citizenship, did not apply to constitutional violations, said the opinion written by Judge Betty Fletcher, joined by Judge Thomas Nelson. Judge Cecil Poole dissented on that issue.