BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — In a majority ruling, the US Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday reversed a lower court’s decision, that “Persons born in American Samoa are citizens of the United States by virtue of the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”
However, a dissenting judge...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Gov. Lemanu Peleti Palepoi Sialega Mauga, in a letter to other territorial governors is seeking their support for American Samoa’s stance on self-determination, which — according to opponents of the suit — is currently threatened by the US citizenship federal lawsuit,...
Denver, COLORADO — Whether people born in U.S. territories have a constitutional right to U.S. citizenship will depend on how the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit rules following argument yesterday in Fitisemanu v. United States, attorneys for John Fitisemanu stated in a press release...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The attorney for the American Samoa Government and Congresswoman Aumua Amata told a federal appeal’s court that the people of American Samoa want a voice in the decision-making when it comes to automatic US citizenship by birth instead of it being determined by a...
Denver, COLORADO — Arguments will be heard Wednesday in an ongoing birthright citizenship case being appealed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit.
Lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice will argue in the appeals court to reverse a ruling in Fitisemanu v. United States, which...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Reversing a federal district court decision, which grants automatic US citizenship to people born in American Samoa “would only create additional questions about their belonging in the American polity,” according to current and former Delegates to the US House as well as...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A new Amici Curiae” brief in the citizenship case claims that while they are respectful of American Samoa’s leaders, granting US citizenship to persons born in American Samoa — who are currently considered US nationals — will not imperil the Samoan culture nor will it...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — During her Senate confirmation hearing last week, Attorney General-nominee Mitzie Jessop-Ta’ase was asked her view on the decision by the federal court in Salt Lake City, Utah, which ruled that US nationals born in American Samoa are automatic US citizens, under...
The American Bar Association’s House of Delegates passed a resolution earlier this month supporting an interpretation of the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution that recognizes all persons born in the territories as natural-born citizens of the United...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — American Samoa Government and Congresswoman Aumua Amata, along with the US State Department have identified issues that they plan to raise in their appeal against a Utah federal court ruling, which gives automatic US citizenship to persons born in American Samoa.
ASG and...


![Lemanu believes that the issue confronting U.S. Nationals in Utah can best be resolved by passage of US House legislation - H.R. 1941 - which “would expedite reclassification of national to citizen to anyone who chooses it.” [SN file photo] Gov. Lemanu Peleti Palepoi Sialega Mauga,](https://www.samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/gov_lemanu_standing_3.jpg?itok=VDO9KMmw)
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![Courtroom, 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, Colorado [SN file photo] Courtroom, 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, Colorado](https://www.samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/fed_denver_courtroom_10th_ciricuit_court_of_appeals_0.jpg?itok=XYwdRlgF)
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![U.S. Federal District Court building Salt Lake City, Utah. [SN file photo] U.S. Federal District Court building Salt Lake City, Utah](https://www.samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/fed_courthouse_salt_lake_7.jpg?itok=nNa79bhV)
![Attorney General-nominee Mitzie Jessop-Ta’ase with Sen. Magalei Logovii in a Samoa News file photo. [SN photo] Attorney General-nominee Mitzie Jessop-Ta’ase with Sen. Magalei Logovi](https://www.samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/mitzie_n_magalei_logovii_.jpg?itok=Xb_E_Tt8)
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