Kennedy v. Mendoza-Martinez

We are called upon in these two cases to decide the grave and fundamental problem, common to both, of the constitutionality of Acts of Congress which divest an American of his citizenship for “[departing from or remaining outside of the jurisdiction of the United States in time of war or . . . national emergency for the purpose of evading or avoiding training and service” in the Nation’s armed forces.1

*147I. The Facts.

A. Mendoza-Martines — No. 2.

The facts of both cases are not in dispute. Mendoza-Martinez, the appellee in No. 2, was born in this country-in 1922 and therefore acquired American…