In re Oppenheimer

61 F. Supp. 403, 1945 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2198
CourtDistrict Court, D. Oregon
DecidedFebruary 23, 1945
DocketNo. 21865
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 61 F. Supp. 403 (In re Oppenheimer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Oppenheimer, 61 F. Supp. 403, 1945 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2198 (D. Or. 1945).

Opinion

JAMES ALGER FEE, District Judge.

This is a hearing upon a petition for naturalization held in open court. The petitioner is a German of Nordic extraction. She came to this country in 1939. Her examination indicates that she has a good mind, since she passed all the usual tests of knowledge of government and stock questions as to organization and beliefs. Her husband was recently admitted by the court with the writer presiding. The testimony in his case, and the fact that he is a Jew, seemed to guarantee that he had no allegiance to the principles of the Nazi government. The court was not advised of his marriage to a person of German blood. If this had been called to the attention of the court much more scrutiny would have been given to the foundation. For all practical purposes that determination is now irrevocable. This woman would unquestionably have been admitted also if a hearing had not been conducted in open court, since she is recommended by the examiner under direction of the Central Office. Other than the unsupported testimony, there is no proof that applicant abandoned the principles of the government which is now at war with this country. She testified she fled from Germany but did not marry her husband until she got to England. The witnesses have only known her since she has lived in this country.

The law puts the burden of proving attachment to the principles of the Constitution squarely upon the petitioner. Once petitioner is admitted she is protected by the guarantees of the Constitution, while an enemy alien is subject to complete direction by the Executive or Congress. In the meantime neither the examiner nor the [404]*404court has sufficient knowledge, or information, to intelligently question the applicant.

If it be assumed in this case, as it was in the case of Schwab v. Coleman, 4 Cir., 145 F.2d 672, 673, that “There is no dispute as to the facts or as to their showing without contradiction that the petitioners are persons of good moral character, attached to the principles of the Constitution, and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States”, there would of course be no question to be considered. The very statement begs the very question here in issue. These are the very prerequisites to admission set by the statute. But the act places the burden of showing the possession of such qualities upon the petitioner. The certificate of admission should not be granted unless these qualities appears to the satisfaction of the court. The process where the hearing is in open court is a judicial one and the end in view is a judgment.

The public, and especially, the body of citizenry, have an interest in the performance of duty by the court. The court must be able to find affirmatively that the petitioner is attached to the principles of the Federal Constitution. A mistake in this regard is for all practical purposes irremediable. See United States v. Baumgart-ner, 322 U.S. 665, 64 S.Ct. 1240, 88 L.Ed. 1525.

This court entirely repudiates the doctrine given specious recognition by a distinguished tribunal1 in a cancellation case, that the law does not exact affection for or approval of our system of government, or patriotism, upon naturalization. While it is true that a naturalized person may subsequently depart from such fundamentals without laying ground for cancellation, the quality of loyalty to the principles of the Constitution of the United States is a mental or emotional state which is required as a condition precedent to admission. The applicant must be “well disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States” 2 which is a quality of the heart. The oath taken upon admission requires the citizen to “support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic” and to “bear true faith and allegiance to the same.”3 These all may be summarized in the ethical characteristic, loyalty. This attitude of devotion cannot be replaced in the present state of the law by an international eclecticism upon the part of the alien seeking admission.

Moreover, a vital distinction must be drawn between a proceeding for cancellation of a certificate already issued under a judgment, and a proceeding for primary admission. This is made plain by an excellent opinion of Judge Slick where it is said:

“The granting of citizenship in the first instance and cancelling citizenship for fraud are as wide apart as the poles. I am free to admit that if defendant were an applicant for citizenship, the evidence adduced in this case would cause me to hesitate and most likely refuse it or, at least, delay the granting of it until after the end of the war. In such a proceeding any reasonable doubt should be resolved against the applicant. The reverse is true in a proceeding to cancel citizenship once granted. Here defendant is entitled to the benefit of a reasonable doubt.
“This is recognized by the layman as well as the legal profession and a witness in this case unconsciously gave expression to this rule.
* * * * * *
“I agree with witness Johnson. I probably would not grant citizenship to defendant, but I am not satisfied to that degree required by the law to take away from him a right that should, and I hope does, value very highly.” 4

Again, upon the same point, Judge Black in the Western District of Washington lays down this distinction in an illuminating opinion, United States v. Giese, D.C., 56 F.Supp. 1018, 1023. It is there said:

“The decisions by the appellate courts in such Schneiderman [Schneiderman v. United States, 320 U.S. 118, 63 S.Ct. 1333, 87 L.Ed. 1796], Baumgartner and Berg-mann [Bergmann v. United States, 9 Cir., 144 F.2d 34] cases were not in any sense approval of the things those defendants did or said. Such decisions were instead declarations that American citizenship is so extremely precious that no one having it through naturalization court decree should be later deprived thereof unless the evi-[405]*405deuce should be so exceedingly strong as to be unequivocal as of the actual time such one took the oath.
“The Supreme Court in such late decisions makes it very clear that when the hearing is held upon an application for citizenship that the District Court is very free to, and should, deny the privilege at the hearing upon far less evidence than would have to be produced to cancel the certificate after it has issued. The Supreme Court says the time of admission is the time for careful scrutiny. It holds that before naturalization citizenship is a privilege which the court can and should withhold until affirmatively satisfied by evidence in petitioner’s behalf. But if such a petitioner be admitted his citizenship becomes a right which the Supreme Court holds cannot be set aside except on extremely strong evidence against a defendant of his state of mind as of the date he was admitted.”

The mere fact that Congress adopted provisions of the Nationality Code, 8 U. S.C.A.

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Bluebook (online)
61 F. Supp. 403, 1945 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2198, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-oppenheimer-ord-1945.