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Quotation from United States v. Wong Kim Ark by Supreme Court of the United States
“Whatever considerations, in the absence of a controlling provision of the Constitution, might influence the legislative or the executive branch of the Government to decline to admit persons of the Chinese race to the status of citizens of the United States, there are none that can constrain or permit the judiciary to refuse to give full effect to the peremptory and explicit language of the Fourteenth Amendment”
United States v. Wong Kim Ark, Opinion of the Court (Justice Gray), Part VI (U.S. Reports text (Wikisource))
Justice Gray distinguishes Congress's power over naturalization from the Court's duty to apply the Constitution's text.
Citation: "Whatever considerations, in the absence of a controlling provision of the Constitution, might influence the legislative or the executive branch of the Government to decline to admit persons of the Chinese race to the status of citizens of the United States, there are none that can constrain or permit the judiciary to refuse to give full effect to the peremptory and explicit language of the Fourteenth Amendment" — Supreme Court of the United States, United States v. Wong Kim Ark, Opinion of the Court (Justice Gray), Part VI (U.S. Reports text (Wikisource)). (id united-states-v-wong-kim-ark-q4)
Portrait: Horacegrayphoto, Unknown, Public domain.
