Kum Chor Chee v. Ramsey Clark, Attorney General of the United States of America

In January 1965 appellant filed this action under section 503 of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1940 ( 8 U.S.C. § 903 ) for a judgment declaring that he is a national of the United States.

The complaint alleges that appellant, born in China, derived United States citizenship through his father, a native of the State of Hawaii. It alleges that appellant was denied admission into the United States by a Board of Special Inquiry in May 1937 on the ground that he was not a national of the United States. It alleges that the ruling of the Board of Special Inquiry was sustained by the Board of Immigration Appeals, a petition for writ of habeas corpus was filed and dismissed, and appellant was excluded from the United States in June 1937.

The district court dismissed the complaint. The court held that section 503 of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1940 was not “retroactive in effect.” The court therefore concluded that the complaint did not allege a cause of action under the 1940 Act because “plaintiff’s claim of a right or privilege as a National of the United States, and the denial thereof, took place, and was finally adjudicated prior to the enactment of the 1940 Act *…