Aca­dem­ic art­icle on cit­izen­ship and non­cit­izen na­tion­al status

De­vel­op­ment sum­mary

Craig R. Shagin and Delaram Rez­a­eik­honak­dar’s art­icle in eYLS ad­dresses the legal dis­tinc­tion between U.S. cit­izens and non­cit­izen na­tion­als through the ex­ample of Amer­ic­an Samoa. It dis­cusses the polit­ic­al dis­ab­il­it­ies that follow from re­cog­nising Amer­ic­an Sam­oans as na­tion­als but not cit­izens, in­clud­ing limits on voting, hold­ing office and jury ser­vice, and argues that there is no sub­stant­ive dif­fer­ence between the two status cat­egor­ies and that ex­tend­ing cit­izen­ship would not un­der­mine the ter­rit­ory’s autonomy.