Afroyim v. Rusk 387 U.S. 253 (1967)
AFROYIM v. RUSK 387 U.S. 253 (1967)
A section of the Nationality Act of 1940 stripped Americans of their citizenship if they voted in a foreign political election. In perez v. brownell (1957) the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of this provision, 5–4. On the authority of Perez, the State Department refused a passport to Afroyim, a naturalized citizen, who had voted in an Israeli election. In Afroyim, however, a new five-Justice majority, speaking through Justice hugo l. black, overruled Perez and declared that the fourteenth amendment's citizenship clause denied Congress authority to strip Americans of their citizenship without their consent. "Citizenship in this Nation is a part of a cooperative affair," Black wrote. "Its citizenry is the country and the country is its citizenry."
Michael E. Parrish
(1986)