Felix Frankfurter

“ By giving State courts jurisdiction in naturalization cases, Congress empowered some thousand State court judges to adjudicate citizenship. If the requirements specifically defined in § 338 for revocation of citizenship were to be supplemented by State law regarding control over judgments by way of the 'term rule' or otherwise, the retention of citizenship would be contingent upon application of myriad discordant rules by a thousand judges scattered over the land. ”

“ In the light of this legislative history we cannot escape the conclusion that in its detailed provisions for revoking a naturalization because of fraud or illegal procurement not appearing on the face of the record, Congress formulated a self-contained, exclusive procedure. With a view to protecting the Government against fraud while safeguarding citizenship from abrogation except by a clearly defined procedure, Congress insisted on the detailed, explicit provisions of § 15. ”

“ The interpretation of local law, especially as to practice, is treacherous business for an outsider. The very uncertainty of the local rules makes it all the more unlikely that Congress intended to subject citizenship by naturalization to such attack.↑ The medieval idea of dividing the calendar year for judicial purposes into terms and vacations developed from the necessities of sowing and harvesting, and from the demands of the Church for religious peace at certain seasons of the year. ”

“ But the differences are within a narrow and unimportant range [13] compared with the enormous and quixotic differences relating to a court's control over its judgments on the score of fraud or illegality. It is one thing to allow some play for the joints in a statutory scheme like the Nationality Act, enforceable by both State and federal courts. It is quite another to inject a wholly dislocating factor by incorporating the diverse State rules for vacating judgments into the revocation process, which Congress specifically and comprehensively dealt with in § 338. ”

“ Such abstract reasoning is mechanical jurisprudence in its most glittering form. It disregards all those decisive considerations by which a provision like § 338 derives the meaning of life from the context of its generating forces and its purposes. ”

“ That amendment, in the words of Congressman Bonynge, the manager of the bill, 'takes away the right to institute (a revocation proceeding) in the court out of which the certificate of citizenship may have been issued, unless the alien happens to reside within the jurisdiction of that court.' 40 Cong.Rec. ”

“ The congressional scheme, providing carefully for the representation of the Government's interest before the grant of citizenship and a detailed, safeguarded procedure for attacking the decree on evidence of fraud outside the record, [9] covers the whole ground. Every national interest is thereby protected. ”

“ See 1 Reeves, History of English Law, 191-192; 3 Holdsworth, A History of English Law, 674-675.↑ The States used as illustration under this division (1) are only those which, as far as investigation discloses, follow the common law 'term rule.'↑ Texas provides striking illustrations of diversity within a single State. The Texas District Courts vary greatly from county to county in the number of terms per year and in the specified length of the terms; many District Courts are in continuous session, others sit 'till finished,' and others have fixed terms of 3, 4, 6, 8 or 10 weeks. ”

“ Upon a motion by the Government to dismiss the complaint, petitioner moved for summary judgment which was granted by the District Court, declaring petitioner 'to be a national and citizen of the United States' but 'without prejudice to the government's right to institute appropriate proceedings for denaturalization under Sec. 338 of the Nationality Act of 1940.' The Court of Appeals reversed, 87 U.S.App.D.C. 137, 184 F.2d 225, and we granted certiorari. ”