Chung Fook v. White

1924

Court: US Supreme Court

Facts: A native-born US citizen's alien wife is unable to immigrate, because she has a dangerous disease. Counter-intuitively, had the husband been a naturalized citizen, instead of native-born, the statute would allow her in.

Posture: Not known in detail

Issue: Is she entitled to the proviso allowing the wives of naturalized citizens, even though the statute technically doesn't apply to wives of native-born citizens?

Holding: No. The statute is what it says.

Rule: The way to fix statutes is to appeal to the legislature.

Reasoning: If we read additional protections into the statute, we're usurping the legislative function.

Dicta: Me: Note that this isn't really a property case...