December 12, 2019
WELCOME, BROTHERS:
Federal judge rules American Samoans are US citizens by birth (Priscilla Alvarez, December 12, 2019, CNN)
A federal judge in Utah said Thursday that American Samoans are US citizens and should be issued new passports reflecting that."This court is not imposing 'citizenship by judicial fiat.' The action is required by the mandate of the Fourteenth Amendment as construed and applied by Supreme Court precedent," wrote Judge Clark Waddoups in the US District Court for the District of Utah. [...]American Samoa has been a US territory since 1900. Those born in the other US territories -- Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern Marianas -- all get citizenship at birth, but that was determined by statute in Congress. No such law exists for American Samoa.
Posted by Orrin Judd at December 12, 2019 6:45 PM