Tom Coumas v. Herbert Brownell, Jr., Attorney General of the United States

Coumas appeals from a judgment in a suit to establish that he is a citizen of the United States under Section 903 of the Nationality Act of 1940, deciding that he is not such a citizen, and refusing to enjoin an order of the Commissioner of Immigration that he be deported to Greece.

Coumas contends that since the answer admits that he, then a citizen of Greece, became a naturalized citizen of the United States on February 19, 1914, the burden of proof is on Brownell to establish that he has lost his latter citizenship. It is unnecessary for us to determine the validity of that contention for whether the burden be on Coumas, the plaintiff, to prove his claim or on Brownell to disprove it, the evidence conclusively shows ■that he is not entitled to a judgment declaring him a citizen of the United States and hence not entitled to have enjoined the order for his deportation.

The district court states its decision that “Plaintiff expatriated himself under the Act of March 2, 1907 (formerly 8 U.S.C. § 17 ), by taking an oath of allegiance to a foreign state; and;by residing in the country of his birth for more than two years and reasserting his Greek nationality.”

That Act remained…