United States v. Wong Kim Ark
United States Supreme Court
169 U.S. 649, 18 S.Ct. 456, 42 L.Ed. 890 (1898)
- Written by Christopher Bova, JD
Facts
Wong Kim Ark (defendant) was born in San Francisco, California in 1873 to Chinese parents. His parents never obtained United States citizenship and returned to China in 1890. Wong Kim Ark remained in the United States and never claimed citizenship or allegiance to any country besides the United States. He visited China briefly in 1890, and was allowed to return based on his status as a native-born citizen. He travelled again to China in 1895, but was denied permission to enter the country on the grounds that he was not a U.S. citizen. Congress had previously passed the Chinese Exclusion Acts, which prohibited Chinese people who were not United States citizens from entering the country. Wong Kim Ark brought suit to obtain entrance to the country. The district court found that he was a citizen and therefore exempt from the Exclusion Acts. The Supreme Court then granted certiorari on the government’s appeal.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Gray, J.)
Dissent (Fuller, J)
What to do next…
Here's why 780,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,200 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
