1. A person of the Japanese race, born in Japan, may not legally
be naturalized under the seventh subdivision of § 4 of the Act of
June 29, 1906, as amended May 9, 1918, 34 Stat. 601, 40 Stat. 542;
nor under the Act of July 19, 1919, 41 Stat. 222. P.
268 U. S.
407.
Page 268 U. S. 403
2. The seventh subdivision,
supra, in permitting "any
alien" who has rendered specified military or maritime service and
fulfills other prescribed conditions, on presentation of the
required declaration of intention, to petition for naturalization
without proof of 5 years' residence in the United States, and in
permitting "any alien" serving in the forces of the United States
during the time the country was engaged in the late war to file his
petition without such declaration or such proof of residence, was
not intended in those cases to eliminate the distinction made in
Rev.Stats. 2169 based on color or race, but, like earlier acts
using the same phrase, refers to aliens who might, consistently
with that distinction, become citizens. P.
268 U. S.
409.
3. In § 2 of the above Act of 1918, providing that nothing in
the Act shall repeal or in any way enlarge Rev.Stats. § 2169
"except as specified in the seventh subdivision of this Act and
under the limitation therein defined," the exception does not imply
an intention to depart from the race or color distinction of § 2169
as to the aliens mentioned in the seventh subdivision, but refers
to the provision there made for naturalization of native-born
Filipino servicemen.
Id.
4. Prior to the Act of 1906,
supra, citizens of the
Philippine Islands were not eligible to naturalization under
Rev.Stats. § 2169, because not aliens, and therefore not within its
terms. P.
268 U. S.
410.
5. The Act of 1906,
supra, § 30 of which extends the
naturalization laws, with some modifications, to "persons not
citizens who owe permanent allegiance to the United States and who
may become residents of any state or organized Territory of the
United States," did not disturb the distinction based on race or
color in Rev.Stats. § 2169. P.
268 U. S.
411.
6. Prior to the Act of 1918,
supra, Filipinos not being
" free white persons " or " of African nativity " were not eligible
to citizenship of the United States; but an effect of that act was
to authorize the naturalization of those native-born Filipinos, of
whatever race or color, having the qualifications specified in § 4,
subdiv. seventh.
Id.
7. The Act of July 19, 1919,
supra, provided that "any
person of foreign birth" who served in the forces in the late war
should under certain conditions, "have the benefits of" the seventh
subdivision of § 4 of the Act of June 29, 1906,
supra, as
amended.
Held that "any person of foreign birth" is not
more comprehensive than "an alien" in the latter act. P.
268 U. S.
412.
Page 268 U. S. 404
Questions certified by the circuit court of appeals, arising
upon an appeal by Toyota from a decree of the district court (290
F. 971) cancelling his certificate of naturalization in a
proceeding brought by the government for that purpose under the
Naturalization Act.
Page 268 U. S. 406
MR. JUSTICE BUTLER delivered the opinion of the Court.
Hidemitsu Toyota, a person of the Japanese race, born in Japan,
entered the United States in 1913. He served substantially all the
time between November of that year and May, 1923, in the United
States Coast Guard Service. This was a part of the naval force of
the United States nearly all of the time the United States was
engaged in the recent war. He received eight or more honorable
discharges, and some of them were for service during the war. May
14, 1921, he filed his petition for naturalization in the United
States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The
petition was granted, and a certificate of naturalization was
issued to him. This case arises on a petition to cancel the
certificate on the ground that
Page 268 U. S. 407
it was illegally procured. Section 15, Act of June 29, 1906, c.
3592, 34 Stat. 596, 601. It is agreed that, if a person of the
Japanese race, born in Japan, may legally be naturalized under the
seventh subdivision of § 4 of the Act of June 29, 1906, as amended
by the Act of May 9, 1918, c. 69, 40 Stat. 542, or under the Act of
July 19, 1919, c. 24, 41 Stat. 222, Toyota is legally naturalized.
The district court held he was not entitled to be naturalized, and
entered a decree cancelling his certificate of citizenship. 290 F.
971. An appeal was taken to the circuit court of appeals, and that
court, under § 239 Judicial Code, certified to this Court the
following questions: (1) whether a person of the Japanese race,
born in Japan, may legally be naturalized under the seventh
subdivision of § 4 of the Act of June 29, 1906, as amended by the
Act of May 9, 1918, and (2) whether such subject may legally be
naturalized under the Act of July 19, 1919. The material provisions
of these enactments are printed in the margin.
*
Page 268 U. S. 408
Until 1870, only aliens being free white persons were eligible
to citizenship. In that year, aliens of African nativity and
persons of African descent were made eligible.
See Ozawa v.
United States, 260 U. S. 178,
260 U. S. 192.
The substance of prior legislation is expressed in § 2169, Revised
Statutes, which is:
"The provisions of this title [Naturalization] shall apply to
aliens being free white persons, and to aliens of African nativity
and to persons of African descent."
A person of the Japanese race, born in Japan, is not eligible
under that section.
Ozawa v. United States, supra,
260 U. S.
198.
It has long been the rule that, in order to be admitted to
citizenship, an alien is required, at least two years prior to his
admission, to declare his intention to become a citizen and to show
that he has resided continuously in the United States for at lease
five years immediately preceding his admission. Revised Statutes,
§§ 2165, 2170;
Page 268 U. S. 409
subd. 1, § 4, c. 3592, 34 Stat. 596. But at different times, as
to specially designated aliens serving in the armed forces of the
United States, Congress modified and lessened these requirements.
Section 2166, Revised Statutes (Act of July 17, 1862, § 21, c. 200,
12 Stat. 594, 597); Act of July 26, 1894, c. 165, 28 Stat. 123,
124; Act of June 30, 1914, c. 130, 38 Stat. 392, 395. In each of
the first two of these acts, the phrase "any alien" is used as a
part of the description of the person for whose benefit the act was
passed. In the last, the language is "any alien . . . who may,
under existing law, become a citizen of the United States." Prior
to this act, it had been held that the phrase "any alien," used in
the earlier acts, did not enlarge the classes defined in § 2169.
In re Buntaro Kumagai (1908), 163 F. 922;
In re
Knight (1909), 171 F. 299;
Bessho v. United States
(1910), 178 F. 245;
In re Alverto (1912) 198 F. 688. The
language used in the Act of 1914 merely expresses what was implied
in the earlier provisions.
The seventh subdivision of § 4 of the Act of 1918 permits "any
native-born Filipino" or "any alien, or any Porto Rican not a
citizen of the United States" belonging respectively to the classes
there described, on presentation of the required declaration of
intention, to petition for naturalization without proof of five
years' residence within the United States, and the act permits "any
alien" serving in the forces of the United States "during the time
this country is engaged in the present war" to file his petition
for naturalization without making the preliminary declaration of
intention and without proof of five years' residence in the United
States. The Act of 1919 gave "any person of foreign birth," there
mentioned, the benefits of the seventh subdivision of § 4.
Evidently, a principal purpose of these acts was to facilitate the
naturalization of servicemen of the classes specified. There is
nothing to show an intention to eliminate from the
Page 268 U. S. 410
definition of eligibility in § 2169 the distinction based on
color or race. Nor is there anything to indicate that, if the
seventh subdivision stood alone, the words "any alien" should be
taken to mean more than did the same words when used in the Acts of
1862 and 1894. But § 2 of the Act of 1918 provides that nothing in
the act shall repeal or in any way enlarge § 2169 "except as
specified in the seventh subdivision of this act and under the
limitation therein defined." This implies some enlargement of §
2169 in respect of color and race; but it also indicates a purpose
not to eliminate all distinction based on color and race so long
continued in the naturalization laws. If it was intended to make
such change and to extend the privilege of naturalization to all
races, the provision of § 2 so limiting the enlargement of § 2169
would be inappropriate. And if the phrase "any alien" in the
seventh subdivision is read literally, the qualifying words "being
free white persons" and "of African nativity" in § 2169 are without
significance.
See In re Geronimo Para, 269 F. 643, 646;
Petition of Easurk Emsen Charr, 273 F. 207, 213.
When the Act of 1918 was passed, it was doubtful whether § 30 of
the Act of 1906 extended the privilege of naturalization to all
citizens of the Philippine Islands. They were held eligible for
naturalization in
In Re Bautista, 245 F. 765, and in
In Re Mallari, 239 F. 416.
And see 27
Op.Attys.Gen. 12. They were held not eligible in
In Re
Alverto, 198 F. 688, in
In Re Lampitoe, 232 F. 382,
and in
In Re Rallos, 241 F. 686. But we hold that, until
the passage of that act, Filipinos, not being "free white persons"
or "of African nativity," were not eligible, and that the effect of
the Act of 1918 was to make eligible, and to authorize the
naturalization of, native-born Filipinos of whatever color or race
having the qualifications specified in the seventh subdivision of §
4.
Under the treaty of peace between the United States and Spain,
December 10, 1898, 30 Stat. 1754, Congress
Page 268 U. S. 411
was authorized to determine the civil rights and political
status of the native inhabitants of the Philippine Islands. And by
the Act of July 1, 1902, § 4, c. 1369, 32 Stat. 691, 692, it was
declared that all inhabitants continuing to reside therein who were
Spanish subjects on April 11, 1899, and then resided in the
Islands, and their children born subsequent thereto,
"shall be deemed and held to be citizens of the Philippine
Islands, and, as such, entitled to the protection of the United
States, except such as shall have elected to preserve their
allegiance to the Crown of Spain"
according to the treaty. The citizens of the Philippine Islands
are not aliens.
See Gonzales v. Williams, 192 U. S.
1,
192 U. S. 13.
They owe no allegiance to any foreign government. They were not
eligible for naturalization under § 2169, because not aliens, and
so not within its terms. By § 30 of the Act of 1906, it is
provided:
"That all the applicable provisions of the naturalization laws
of the United States shall apply to and be held to authorize the
admission to citizenship of all persons not citizens who owe
permanent allegiance to the United States, and who may become
residents of any state or organized territory of the United States,
with the following modifications: the applicant shall not be
required to renounce allegiance to any foreign sovereignty; he
shall make his declaration of intention to become a citizen of the
United States at least two years prior to his admission, and
residence within the jurisdiction of the United States, owing such
permanent allegiance, shall be regarded as residence within the
United States within the meaning of the five years' residence
clause of the existing law."
34 Stat. 606.
Section 26 of that act repeals certain sections of Title XXX of
the Revised Statutes, but leaves § 2169 in force. It is to be
applied as if it were included in the Act of 1906. Plainly the
element of alienage included in § 2169 did not apply to the class
made eligible by § 30 of the Act of 1906. The element of color and
race included in that section
Page 268 U. S. 412
is not specifically dealt with by § 30, and, as it has long been
the national policy to maintain the distinction of color and race,
radical change is not lightly to be deemed to have been intended.
"Persons not citizens who owe permanent allegiance to the United
States, and who may become residents of any state," may include
Malays, Japanese, and Chinese, and others not eligible under the
distinction as to color and race. As under § 30, all the applicable
provisions of the naturalization laws apply, the limitations based
on color and race remain, and the class made eligible by § 30 must
be limited to those of the color and race included by § 2169. As
Filipinos are not aliens, and owe allegiance to the United States,
there are strong reasons for relaxing as to them the restrictions
which do not exist in favor of aliens who are barred because of
their color and race. And in view of the policy of Congress to
limit the naturalization of aliens to white persons and to those of
African nativity or descent, the implied enlargement of § 2169
should be taken at the minimum. The legislative history of the act
indicates that the intention of Congress was not to enlarge § 2169
except in respect of Filipinos qualified by the specified service.
Senate Report No. 388, pp. 2, 3, 8; House Report No. 502, pp. 1, 4,
Sixty-Fifth Congress, Second Session.
See also
Congressional Record, vol. 56, part 6, pp. 6000-6003. And we hold
that the words "any alien" in the seventh subdivision are limited
by § 2169 to aliens of the color and race there specified. We also
hold that the phrase "any person of foreign birth" in the Act of
1919 is not more comprehensive than the words "any alien" in the
Act of 1918. It follows that the questions certified must be
answered in the negative.
The answer to the first question is:
No.
The answer to the second question is:
No.
THE CHIEF JUSTICE dissents.
*
"Seventh. Any native-born Filipino of the age of twenty-one
years and upward who has declared his intention to become a citizen
of the United States and who has enlisted or may hereafter enlist
in the United States Navy or Marine Corps or the Naval Auxiliary
Service, and who, after service of not less than three years, may
be honorably discharged therefrom, or who may receive an ordinary
discharge with recommendation for reenlistment; or any alien, or
any Porto Rican not a citizen of the United States, of the age of
twenty-one years and upward, who has enlisted or entered or may
hereafter enlist in or enter the armies of the United States, . . .
or in the United States Navy or Marine Corps, or in the United
States Coast Guard, or who has served for three years on board of
any vessel of the United States government, or for three years on
board of merchant or fishing vessels of the United States of more
than twenty tons burden, and while still in the service on a
reenlistment or reappointment, or within six months after an
honorable discharge or separation therefrom, or while on furlough
to the Army Reserve or Regular Army Reserve after honorable
service, may, on presentation of the required declaration of
intention, petition for naturalization without proof of the
required five years' residence within the United States if, upon
examination . . . , it is shown that such residence cannot be
established; any alien serving in the military or naval service of
the United States during the time this country is engaged in the
present war may file his petition for naturalization without making
the preliminary declaration of intention and without proof of the
required five years' residence within the United States; . . . § 2
. . . Nothing in this Act shall repeal or in any way enlarge §
twenty-one hundred and sixty-nine of the Revised Statutes, except
as specified in the seventh subdivision of this Act and under the
limitation therein defined. . . ."
Act of May 9, 1918, c. 69, 40 Stat. 542, 547.
"Any person of foreign birth who served in the military or naval
forces of the United States during the present war, after final
examination and acceptance by the said military or naval
authorities, and shall have been honorably discharged after such
acceptance and service, shall have the benefits of the seventh
subdivision of section 4 of the Act of June 29, 1906, . . . as
amended, and shall not be required to pay any fee therefor, and
this provision shall continue for the period of one year after all
of the American troops are returned to the United States."
Act of July 19, 1919, c. 24, 41 Stat. 222.