Schneider v. Rusk, 372 U.S. 224 (1963)

Schneider v. Rusk


No. 251


Decided February 18, 1963
372 U.S. 224

CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT

Syllabus

Petitioner sued in a Federal District Court for an injunction restraining enforcement of § 352(a)(1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, which provides that a naturalized American citizen shall lose his nationality by

having a continuous residence for three years in the territory of a foreign state of which he was formerly a national or in which the place of his birth is situated. . . .

A single-judge District Court refused petitioner’s request to convene a three-judge court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2282 and dismissed the action. The Court of Appeals affirmed.

Held: the constitutional question raised by petitioner’s complaint was not plainly insubstantial; the single-judge District Court was powerless to dismiss the action on the merits; and a three-judge District Court should have been convened. Pp. 224-225.

Judgment vacated and case remanded to District Court.