Perkins v Elg (1939) versus Obama Eligibility

by Gerry Nance

Perkins v Elg (1939) is often cited in the debate over the constitutional eligibility of
Barack Hussein Obama II. Depending on the source, there is a question of whether
Marie Elg's mother was naturalized a US Citizen, as was her father. Some sources
only claim her father was naturalized. The mystery has been solved, by examining
the history of US naturalization laws dating back to 1855 to 1922.

Perkins v Elg (1939) - Elg's mother's derivative naturalization:

Miss [Marie] Elg was born in Brooklyn, New York, on October 2, 1907. Her parents,
who were natives of Sweden, emigrated to the United States sometime prior to
1906 and her father was naturalized here in that year. In 1911, her mother took her
to Sweden where she continued to reside until September 7, 1929. Her father went
to Sweden in 1922 and has not since returned to the United States. In November,
1934, he made a statement before an American consul in Sweden that he had
voluntarily expatriated himself for the reason that he did not desire to retain the
status of an American citizen and wished to preserve his allegiance to Sweden.

The U.S. Supreme Court concluded that Marie Elizabeth Elg, who was born in the
United States of Swedish parents naturalized in the United States, had not lost her
birthright U.S. citizenship because of her removal during minority to Sweden and
was entitled to all the rights and privileges of that U.S. citizenship. In this case, the
U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the decree that declared Elg "to be a natural born
citizen of the United States."
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=307&invol=325

http://www.law.cornell.edu/anncon/html/art1toc_user.html

The Naturalization Act of 1802

http://www.michiganancestry.com/files/Naturalization_Act.pdf

KELLY V. OWEN, 74 U. S. 496 (1868)

http://supreme.justia.com/us/74/496/case.html

Matter of Andres GUZMAN-GOMEZ, Respondent

http://www.justice.gov/eoir/vll/intdec/vol24/3642.pdf
page 828 footnote 4:
"See Nationality Act of 1940, ch. 876, § 102(h), 54 Stat. 1137, 1138; Immigration
Act of 1924, ch. 190, § 28(m), 43 Stat. 153, 169. Between 1855 and 1922, the
general rule was that an alien woman who was herself eligible for naturalization
acquired United States citizenship automatically upon her marriage to a United
States citizen. See Act of February 10, 1855, ch. 71, § 2, 10 Stat. 604; see also Kelly
v. Owen, 74 U.S. 496, 498 & n.2 (1868)"

Miss Elg was born in the USA, a "second-generation" US citizen, to two US Citizen
parents and the US Supreme court declared her to be a US Natural Born Citizen.
Tell your Congress, Senators and Representatives before the 2012 elections.