This Part surveys the current law of personal jurisdiction under the Due Process Clauses and pays special attention to whether and how the
alienage status of a defendant influences doctrine.
Romero, The Congruence Principle Applied: Rethinking Equal Protection Review of Federal
Alienage Classifications After Adarand Constructors, Inc.
the Supreme Court struck down an Arizona
alienage law that penalized
(242) While it is true that the entrant without inspection is an applicant for admission, and thus bearing the burden of proof, it is still the government that initially bears the burden of proving
alienage in the removal case.
The Supreme Court reasoned that classifications based on
alienage are inherently suspect because they are a "discrete and insular minorit[y]" for whom heightened judicial solicitude is appropriate.
1, 9 n.11 (1977) (treating
alienage as a suspect classification, even though
alienage may sometimes be changed through naturalization).
(holding that congressional use of the
alienage classification requires
immigration, are referred to as
alienage, rather than immigration, laws.
Supreme Court ruled that the provision relieves citizens moving from one state to another "from the disabilities of
alienage in other states."
(14) It is the concept of "otherness," of
alienage per se, that triggers them.
Sassen, Saskia (2005), "The Repositioning of Citizenship and
Alienage: Emergent Subjects and Spaces for Politics" in Globalizations, no.
"Illegal" cannot just refer to individuals who break laws, since that would include anyone convicted of a crime regardless of their citizenship or
alienage; this is not how the term is colloquially used.
citizens, other cases have dealt more directly with the right to travel of persons who were eligible for welfare health benefits but were denied these benefits on account of their
alienage or national origin.
Laws challenged as discrimination based on race or
alienage receive strict scrutiny, laws challenged as discrimination based on sex or legitimacy receive intermediate scrutiny, and all other claims of discrimination result in rational basis scrutiny.
(7) As a result, Article III expressly authorized the federal courts to hear disputes between an alien and a citizen of a state ("
alienage" jurisdiction).
