United States v. Wong Kim Ark

law case

Written by

Claire Ke

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Britannica Editors

History

United States v. Wong Kim Ark, legal case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled (6–2) on March 28, 1898, that a person born in the United States to parents holding Chinese or foreign citizenship is a U.S. citizen based on the citizenship clause of the Fourteenth Amendment (1868) to the United States Constitution. Wong Kim Ark, an American-born cook of Chinese descent, was detained and threatened with deportation following an 1894...