Enrico Soccodato v. John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State

(dissenting) .

This decision of the court is another long step in a progression of court decisions away from the terms of the applicable statutes. I think that step ought not to be taken.

We start consideration with the statutes themselves. Two are involved, one of 1907 and the other of 1940.1 They are quite simple and unqualified. The 1907 Act provided:

“Sec. 2. 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.”

That statute obtained…