Fedorenko v. United States
Appearance
Fedorenko v. United States | |
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Argued October 15, 1980 Decided January 21, 1981 | |
Full case name | Feodor Fedorenko v. United States |
Citations | 449 U.S. 490 (more) 101 S. Ct. 737; 66 L. Ed. 2d 686 |
Case history | |
Prior | Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit |
Holding | |
As a person who had assisted the enemy in persecuting civilians, Fedorenko's visa was illegally procured and therefore his citizenship must be revoked under § 340(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. | |
Court membership | |
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Case opinions | |
Majority | Marshall, joined by Brennan, Stewart, Powell, Rehnquist |
Concurrence | Burger |
Concurrence | Blackmun |
Dissent | White |
Dissent | Stevens |
Fedorenko v. United States, 449 U.S. 490 (1981), was a United States Supreme Court case which held that people who assisted in Nazi persecutions, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, were not eligible for visas to enter the United States, and thus could not legally obtain United States citizenship. It has been used as an important precedent in many denaturalization cases against former Nazis.
Following the ruling, the defendant, Feodor Fedorenko, was deported to the Soviet Union. He was tried for treason, war crimes, and collaborationism for working in Treblinka extermination camp. Fedorenko was sentenced to death in 1986, and executed in 1987.
See also
- Chaunt v. United States, 364 U.S. 350 (1960)
- Rogers v. Bellei, 401 U.S. 815 (1971)
- Kungys v. United States, 485 U.S. 759 (1988)
- Negusie v. Holder, 555 U.S. 511 (2009)
- Boļeslavs Maikovskis, Latvian Nazi collaborator, fled the U.S. before his extradition
- Anton Geiser, who lost his US citizenship for similar reasons, this case having played an important part in the process
- Treblinka trials
Further reading
- Dienstag, Abbe L. (1982), "Fedorenko v. United States: War Crimes, the Defense of Duress, and American Nationality Law", Columbia Law Review, 82 (1): 120–183, doi:10.2307/1122241, JSTOR 1122241.
External links
- Text of Fedorenko v. United States, 449 U.S. 490 (1981) is available from: Google Scholar Justia Library of Congress Oyez (oral argument audio)