In re Guliano

• Decision Date: 15 October 1907
• Citation: 156 F. 420
• Parties: In re GULIANO.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

156 F. 420

In re GULIANO.

United States District Court, S.D. New York.

October 15, 1907

The following facts appear from the papers submitted: Guliano came to the United States in 1891, being then 19 years old. In 1897 he applied for and obtained a certificate of naturalization in the Supreme Court of this state (Kings county). At the time of this application he swore that he was but 16 years of age on arrival, and did this, as he deposes upon the advice and under the influence of a fellow countryman. The certificate of naturalization thus unlawfully obtained Guliano kept, and presumably used, until 1904, when the illegality being discovered, he surrendered it to a special employe of the Department of Justice. Immediately thereafter, and in February, 1904, he declared his intention to become a citizen in the New York Supreme Court (New York county). In February, 1905, he was indicted in the Circuit Court for this district under Rev. St. Secs. 5425, 5428 (U.S. Comp. St. 1901, pp. 3669, 3670), and pleaded guilty. Sentence, however, was suspended. On August 14, 1907 he applied for his final papers to the Supreme Court of this state (New York county), and his application was, as shown by the extract from the records, 'absolutely denied.' He now moves for leave to file another petition in this court.

Arthur M. King, for petitioner.

Henry L. Stimson, U.S. Atty., opposed.

HOUGH District Judge.

The present naturalization law (Act June 29, 1906, c. 3592, 34 Stat. 596 (U.S. Comp. St. Supp. 1907, p. 417)) requires the payment of fees (considerable in amount for many of the applicants) in advance, viz., on the 'making, filing and docketing the petition' (section 13). Upon the final hearing of said petition, which must be 'had in open court before a judge' (section 9), the court must be satisfied, among other things, that the applicant during at least five years' residence within the United States 'has behaved as a man of good moral character' (section 4, subd. 4), and must generally be convinced of the truth of the allegations of the petition, including (in this man's case) that he 'has been denied admission as a citizen of the United States * * * and that the cause for such denial has since been cured or removed' (section 4, subd. 2). While the record from the state Supreme Court does not reveal the exact ground inducing the absolute denial of Guliano's application, it is inferable from all the papers now submitted that the court did not consider a man, who had within two years and a half pleaded guilty to a serious offense, a person who during five years prior to the hearing of his application had been of good moral character.

The jurisdiction of the Supreme Court over naturalization is as ample as that of any other. Guliano chose to submit to that jurisdiction the question (inter alia) of...