Savorgnan v. United States v. 8212 1949

• Decision Date: 09 January 1950
• Docket Number: No. 48,48
• Citation: 94 L.Ed. 287,70 S.Ct. 292,338 U.S. 491
• Parties: SAVORGNAN v. UNITED STATES et al. Argued Nov. 7—9, 1949
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

338 U.S. 491

70 S.Ct. 292

94 L.Ed. 287

SAVORGNAN

v UNITED STATES et al.

No. 48.

Argued Nov. 7—9, 1949.

Decided Jan. 9, 1950.

Rehearing Denied March 13, 1950.

See 339 U.S. 916, 70 S.Ct. 564.

Messrs. Suel O. Arnold, Milwaukee, Wis., Carl A. Flom, Madison, Wis., for petitioner.

Mr. Oscar H. Davis, Washington, D.C., for respondents.

Mr. Justice BURTON delivered the opinion of the Court.

The question is whether, under the special circumstances of this case, a native-born American citizen who became an Italian citizen in 1940, and lived in Italy with her Italian husband from 1941 to 1945, nevertheless retained her American citizenship. For the reasons hereinafter stated, we hold that she did not. The controlling statutes are § 2 of the Citizenship Act of 1907,¹ and §§ 401, 403 and 104 of its successor, the Nationality Act of 1940.²

The petitioner, Rosette Sorge Savorgnan, brought this action in the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, under § 503 of the Nationality Act of 1940, 54 Stat. 1171, 8 U.S.C. § 903, 8 U.S.C.A. § 903, for a judgment declaring her to be an American citizen. That court decided in her favor. 73 F.Supp. 109. The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed the judgment and remanded the case with directions to dismiss the petition against the United States because it had not consented to be sued, and to enter judgment in favor of the other defendants in conformity with its opinion. 171 F.2d 155. Because of the importance of this decision in determining American citizenship, we granted certiorari. 337 U.S. 914, 69 S.Ct. 1158.

Insofar as material, the undisputed facts and those found by the District Court are as follows:

The petitioner was born in Wisconsin in 1915 of native-born parents and resided in the United States until July, 1941. In March, 1940, her intended husband, Alessandro Savorgnan, was an Italian citizen, serving as Italian Vice Consul at St. Louis, Missouri. He informed her that, under Italian law, she would have to become an Italian citizen before he could obtain the necessary royal consent to their marriage. She applied for Italian citizenship. He prepared her application. It was in Italian which he understood, but which she did not understand. In August, the petitioner was granted Italian citizenship. In November, she appeared with Savorgnan at the Italian Consulate in Chicago, Illinois, and, in his presence, signed an instrument which contained an oath, in Italian, expressly renouncing her American citizenship and swearing her allegiance to the King of Italy.³ No ceremony or formal administration of the oath accompanied her signature and apparently none was required. She and Sa- vorgnan understood that her signing of this instrument had to do with her citizenship and with securing the required royal consent for Savorgnan to marry her, but he did not translate the instrument or explain its contents to her. The District Court found as a fact that, at the time of signing each of the documents mentioned, the petitioner, although intending to obtain Italian citizenship, had no intention of endangering her American citizenship or of renouncing her allegiance to the United States.

December 26, 1940, the petitioner and Savorgnan were married. In July, 1941, when Italian diplomatic officials were required to leave the United States, an Italian diplomatic passport was issued to the petitioner, and she embarked for Italy with her husband. She remained in Italy until November, 1945, except for six months spent in Germany. While in Italy she lived with her husband and his family in Rome, where he worked in the Italian Foreign Ministry. In November, 1945, she returned to America on the Italian diplomatic passport and later requested the Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service to correct the records of his office to show that she was an American citizen at the time of her return to America. The request was denied and she instituted the present proceeding.

There is no evidence of her maintaining, at any time after her marriage, a residence, dwelling place or place of general abode apart from her husband. The District Court, however, found that, at the times of signing her application for Italian citizenship and the instrument containing her oath of allegiance to the King of Italy, she did not intend to establish a 'permanent residence' in any country other than the United States. It found also that when she left America for Italy, 'she did so without any intention of establishing a permanent residence abroad or abandoning her residence in the United States, or of divesting herself of her American citizenship.' See 73 F.Supp. at page 110.

We thus face two principal questions:

I. What was the effect upon the petitioner's American citizenship of her applying for and obtaining Italian citizenship? The Government contends that she thereby was naturalized in a foreign state in conformity with its laws within the meaning of either § 2 of the Act of 1907 or § 401(a) of the Act of 1940.⁴ It contends further that § 2 of the Act of 1907 did not require residence abroad as a condition of expatriation, and that she, therefore, was, then and there, effectively expatriated under that Act, merely upon becoming naturalized as an Italian citizen while still remaining in the United States. We agree that she was thus naturalized, but we do not find it necessary to pass upon the further contention that, by obtaining such naturalization in 1940, she then and there expatriated herself, and lost her American citizenship without taking up residence abroad.⁵

II. What was the effect upon the petitioner's American citizenship of her residence in Italy from 1941 to 1945? The Government contends that, even if the petitioner did not lose her American citizenship, in 1940, when she became a naturalized Italian citizen, she lost it when she took up her residence in Italy. We agree. The Government contends that this expatriation was effected either under the Act of 1940⁶ or under the Act of 1907 as continued in effect by a saving clause in the Act of 1940.⁷ We find it unnecessary to choose between these contentions because each leads to the same conclusion in this case.

I.

What was the effect upon the petitioner's American citizenship of her applyingfor and obtaining Italian citizenship?

The requirements for expatriation under § 2 of the Citizenship Act of 1907 are objective.⁸ That section provides that 'any American citizen shall be deemed to have expatriated himself when he has been naturalized in any foreign state in conformity with its laws, or when he has taken an oath of allegiance to any foreign state.'⁹

Traditionally the United States has supported the right of expatriation as a natural and inherent right of all people.¹⁰ Denial, restriction, impairment or questioning of that right was declared by Congress, in 1868, to be inconsistent with the fundamental principles of this Government.¹¹ From the beginning, one of the most obvious and effective forms of expatriation has been that of naturalization under the laws of another nation. However, due to the common-law prohibition of expatriation without the consent of the sovereign, our courts hesitated to recognize expatriation of our citizens, even by foreign naturalization, without the express consent of our Government.¹² Congress finally gave its consent upon the specific terms stated in the Citizenship Act of 1907 and in its successor, the Nationality Act of 1940. Those Acts are to be read in the light of the declaration of policy favoring freedom of expatriation which stands unrepealed. 3 Hackworth, Digest of International Law §§ 242—250 (1942).

A. One contention of the petitioner is the novel one that her naturalization did not meet the requirements of § 2 of the Act of 1907,¹³ because it did not take place within the boundaries of a foreign state. The answer is that the phrase in § 2 which states that 'any American citizen shall be deemed to have expatriated himself when he has been naturalized in any foreign state in conformity with its laws, * * *' (emphasis supplied) refers merely to naturalization into the citizenship of any foreign state. It does not refer to the place where the naturalization proceeding occurs. The matter is even more clearly dealt with in the Act of 1940.¹⁴ Section 401(a) there lists 'Obtaining naturalization in a foreign state, * * *' as a means of losing nationality. Section 403(a) then states that expatriation shall result from the performance of the acts listed in § 401 'within the United States * * *' if and when the national performing them 'thereafter takes up a residence abroad.' Thus Congress expressly recognized that 'naturalization in a foreign state' included naturalization proceedings which led to citizenship in a foreign state, but took place within the United States.

B. The petitioner's principal contention is that she did not intend to give up her American citizenship, although she applied for and accepted Italian citizenship, and that her intent should prevail. However, the acts upon which the statutes expressly condition the consent of our Government to the expatriation of its citizens are stated objectively.¹⁵ There is no suggestion in the statutory language that the effect of the specified overt acts, when voluntarily done, is conditioned upon the undisclosed intent of the person doing them.

The United States has long recognized the general undesirability of dual allegiances. Since 1795, Congress has required any alien seeking American citizenship to declare 'that he both absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to every foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty whatever, and particularly by name, the prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, whereof he was before a citizen or subject; * * *.' 1 Stat. 414, see 8 U.S.C. § 735(a), 8 U.S.C.A. § 735(a).¹⁶ Temporary or limited duality of citizenship...