The petitioner was born abroad to a U.S. citizen mother and a foreign national father. He challenged the constitutionality of the citizenship statute that required his mother to have resided in the United States for ten years prior to his birth in order to transmit citizenship to him. The petitioner “maintains that there is no rational basis on which to distinguish between him—a minor child, born abroad to a United States citizen, who lawfully entered the Country and lived in the custody of that United States citizen parent in the United States—and a lawful permanent resident minor child living in the custody of a lawful permanent resident parent when that parent naturalizes.” The Seventh Circuit disagreed, finding that the statute “bears a rational relation to the Government’s legitimate interest in ensuring that children born abroad who become citizens have ties to the United States.”
The full text of Lopez Ramos v. Barr can be found here: