On July 10, 2012, a group of American Samoans and the Samoan Federation of America filed this lawsuit in the D.C. Circuit Court. They sued the U.S. Department of State under the Federal Declaratory Judgment Act of 1934. The plaintiffs, represented by the Constitutional Accountability Center, asked ...
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On July 10, 2012, a group of American Samoans and the Samoan Federation of America filed this lawsuit in the D.C. Circuit Court. They sued the U.S. Department of State under the Federal Declaratory Judgment Act of 1934. The plaintiffs, represented by the Constitutional Accountability Center, asked the court for both declaratory and injunctive relief. Specifically, the plaintiffs claimed that their classification as "non-citizen nationals" instead of U.S. citizens was forbidden by the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and asked that they be given full citizen rights.
The plaintiffs argued that American Samoa, as within the limits and subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, should fall under the Citizenship Clause, i.e. all individuals born in the region should be granted full U.S. citizenship. As of 2015, American Samoans were classified as "non-citizen nationals," a designation which denied them the right to vote, the right to serve on a jury, and the ability to hold certain public sector positions.
On June 26, 2013, the Court (Judge Richard L. Leon) granted the defendants' motion to dismiss the case on the grounds that it failed to state a claim. 951 F. Supp. 2d 88 (D.D.C. 2013). The plaintiffs appealed this dismissal. The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit considered their case but ultimately affirmed the Circuit Court decision and ruled in favor of the defendants on June 5, 2015.
The plaintiffs filed a motion for a rehearing en banc, but the motion was denied on October 2, 2015.
The case is now closed.
Allison Hight - 10/10/2015
Virginia Weeks - 02/19/2018
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