Citizens

Those who, under the Constitution and laws of the United States, or of a particular community or of a foreign country, owe allegiance and are entitled to the enjoyment of all CIVIL RIGHTS that ACCRUE to those who qualify for that status.

Neither the United States nor a state is a citizen for purposes of DIVERSITY OF CITIZEN-SHIP, a phrase that is used in regard to the jurisdiction of the federal courts, which—under Article III, Section 2, of the Constitution—empowers those courts to hear and decide cases between citizens of different states. Municipalities and other local governments, however, are deemed to be citizens.

The term citizen in Article III of the Constitution, which established the federal judiciary, includes corporations; therefore, suits concerning corporations involve citizens for federal jurisdictional purposes. The term citizen, however, as defined by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, does not encompass either corporations or ALIENS. Neither corporations nor aliens receive the protection of the PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES Clauses of the FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT and Article IV, as those clauses protect only citizens.

Aliens, however, are considered to be "persons" for the purposes of the DUE PROCESS Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments and the EQUAL PROTECTION CLAUSE of the Fourteenth Amendment. In the 1982 case of Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202, 102 S. Ct. 2382, 72 L. Ed. 2d 786, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized that even illegal aliens are "persons" within the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment for purposes of public education. A corporation is also deemed to be a citizen for certain purposes. It is a citizen of the United States and of the state under whose laws it was organized. A particular state, commonly Delaware, is selected for incorporation because that state charges lower taxes and its laws favor businesses. Once the company incorporates in the designated state, it is a citizen of that state, but it can apply in any other state for authority to do business there.

The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution provides:" All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside…."The impor tant right of citizenship, whether for native-born or naturalized citizens, cannot be divested, whether as punishment for a crime or for any other reason, by the states or the federal government, including their agencies and officials (see also Afroyim v. Rusk, 387 U.S. 253, 87 S. Ct. 1660, 18 L. Ed. 2d 757 [1967]). American citizenship can be relinquished, but it cannot be taken away unless it was procured through FRAUD or any other unlawful action.

The Fourteenth Amendment, through the inclusion of the phrase "all persons," was specifically enacted in 1868 specifically to grant citizenship to former slaves. Since 1924, it has been judicially interpreted to include American Indians. U.S. citizenship does not divest an Indian of tribal citizenship but, rather, coexists with it.

The Fourteenth Amendment does not, however, make children who are born within the territory of the United States of foreign ambassadors, consuls, and military officers American citizens. Such children derive their citizenship from their parents.

Ordinarily, a person who is in a country other than the one of which he or she is a citizen owes to that country a type of "temporary allegiance," which essentially is a respect for the laws of the host country, although it is not as substantial as the loyalty demanded of citizens. It requires that an alien observe the laws of the country and, in some countries, even serve in the military; it ensures the protection of the alien by the laws of the country.

Ambassadors, consuls, and military officers, however, owe no allegiance to the foreign country where they are assigned, and their children are not "born within the allegiance" of a foreign country in which they serve.