Nguyen v. Immigration and Naturalization Service

Under federal law, a child born abroad out of wedlock to an American mother automatically became a U.S. citizen, but a child born to an American father needed the father to establish paternity, typically before the child turned 18. Tuan Anh Nguyen (defendant), born in Vietnam to a Vietnamese mother and American father Joseph Boulais, became a permanent U.S. resident as a child but was placed in deportation proceedings after pleading guilty to sexual assault at 22; Boulais did not legally establish paternity until Nguyen was 28, too late to secure automatic citizenship. Nguyen and Boulais challenged the gender-based statutory scheme as violating equal protection, and the Supreme Court granted certiorari.