United States v. Clifford
| Decision Date | 05 April 1937 |
| Docket Number | No. 291.,291. |
| Citation | 89 F.2d 184 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES v. CLIFFORD. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Lamar Hardy, U. S. Atty., of New York City (David W. Wainhouse, Asst. U. S. Atty., of New York City, of counsel), for the United States.
Joseph P. Brennan, Jr., of New York City, for appellee Jeremiah Joseph Clifford.
Before L. HAND, SWAN, and AUGUSTUS N. HAND, Circuit Judges.
On February 26, 1936, the appellee Clifford applied for naturalization to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. His petition was opposed by the government on the ground that during the period of at least five years immediately preceding the date of the filing of his petition he "did not behave as a person of good moral character attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the same." This objection was practically quoted verbatim from section 4 of the Act of Congress of June 29, 1906 (as amended, U.S.C. title 8, § 382 8 U.S.C.A. § 382).
Clifford, together with one Elsie Evans, was indicted in Michigan in 1933 on the charge of attempting to bring his sister-in-law into the United States illegally and both pleaded guilty. They were each fined $100 and he paid the fines. He filed an affidavit in the naturalization proceeding attempting to explain his conduct in which he stated that he paid Elsie Evans $200 for assisting his sister-in-law to enter the country believing she could be brought in legally. He also stated that he had pleaded guilty in 1930 to the charge of violating the Prohibition Act (27 U.S.C.A. § 1 et seq.). Upon the foregoing record the District Court overruled the objection of the government and admitted the alien to citizenship. The United States has appealed.
We may assume that the violation of the Prohibition Act referred to would be insufficient to bar admission because it occurred more than five years before the filing of Clifford's petition, but we cannot take this view as to the act of conspiracy to introduce an alien into the country within that period. Such a crime involves an unlawful intent which the judgment of conviction established beyond any contradiction sought to be proved by the affidavit.
The question is whether Clifford, in view of his conviction, has shown "that he has behaved as a person of good moral character, attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States, and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States."
The Court of Appeals of the Sixth Circuit denied admission to an alien because he had his wife unlawfully brought into the United States from Canada. In re Nybo (C.C.A.) 42 F.(2d)...
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PETITION FOR NATURALIZATION OF FERRO
...agree that moral character is a question of fact. 7 For the history of the rule in the Second Circuit, see United States v. Clifford, 2 Cir., 1937, 89 F.2d 184, at page 185, rule assumed; Petition of Schlau, D.C. S.D.N.Y.1941, 41 F.Supp. 161 (perhaps because the conduct in question was not ......
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Schwab v. Coleman
...to establish good moral character only during the five-year period, not earlier. Petition of Zele, 2 Cir., 127 F.2d 578; United States v. Clifford, 2 Cir., 89 F.2d 184; United States v. Rubia, 5 Cir., 110 F.2d 92; In re Aldecoa, D.C.Idaho, 22 F.Supp. 659, 661. And it has consistently been c......
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Marcantonio v. United States, 6166.
...to establish good moral character only during the five-year period, not earlier. Petition of Zele, 2 Cir., 127 F.2d 578; United States v. Clifford, 2 Cir., 89 F.2d 184; United States v. Rubia, 5 Cir., 110 F.2d 92; In re Aldecoa, D.C.Idaho, 22 F.Supp. 659, 661. And it has consistently been c......
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Application of Murra, 9809.
...to establish good moral character only during the five-year period, not earlier. Petition of Zele, 2 Cir., 127 F.2d 578; United States v. Clifford, 2 Cir., 89 F.2d 184; United States v. Rubia, 5 Cir., 110 F.2d 92; In re Aldecoa, D.C.Idaho, 22 F. Supp. 659, 661. And it has consistently been ......