WASHINGTON — A majority of Supreme Court justices may be bothered by an immigration law that treats U.S. fathers differently than American mothers. But it seemed unlikely after oral arguments Wednesday that a majority of justices thought they could do anything about it.
The court was considering a challenge to a federal statute that makes it easier for unmarried mothers than unmarried fathers to convey U.S. citizenship to children born outside the country.
Ruben Flores-Villar, who was born in Mexico but raised by his father in San Diego, says he is a victim of the double standard. Fighting a criminal conviction for violating immigration law, Flores-Villar, now 36, was denied citizenship and deported because his father did not meet the citizenship law’s requirements.
But conservative justices told Flores-Villar’s lawyer, Steven Hubachek, that granting citizenship to someone born outside the U.S. is a power that belongs to Congress, not the court.
“Do you have any other case where a court has conferred citizenship on someone who, under the statutes as written, does not have it?” asked Justice Antonin Scalia.
“The court has not said that yet, but it can in this case,” Hubachek replied.
