Herbert A. Weiss Immigration Law Blog on Lawyers.com

Citizens of Metropolis, USA. By now many of you have undoubtedly heard of the unfortunate news that Superman recently decided to appear before the United Nations (UN) to renounce his U.S. citizenship.  His reason for this drastic action was that, in his own words, he was “tired of having my [his] actions construed as instruments of U.S. policy.”  Superman lamented:  “Truth, Justice and the American Way” – It’s Not Enough Anymore.”

If you’re of my generation, there’s a good chance you grew up reading comic books featuring Superheroes like Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman & Robin, Flash, The Green Hornet, The Incredible Hulk, and many others.  I don’t believe comic books are quite as popular today as they once were but many persons, adult and child, are still entertained by reading of the exploits of these superheroes possessing unearthly powers used to fight crime and injustice and to make this a better world.  One major difference about comics today versus yesteryear, other than the number of readers, is that when I was a kid they cost twenty-five cents or less.  Today they’ll set you back a few bucks.

So why should we be concerned about Superman renouncing his U.S. citizenship?  Most of us know that Superman is an alien from the planet Krypton who was hurtled into space as a child by his parents so that he would be saved when Krypton destructed.  There is no doubt that Superman is an alien . . . perhaps a different kind than the ones who reach our shores today . . . but an alien no less. 

I’ll be honest  . . . I don’t know if Superman was ever conferred honorary U.S. citizenship.  But if he was, there is no procedure under our immigration law, thankfully, that allows one to appear before the UN to renounce citizenship.  Why should the UN, where many countries often vote against us on many issues, have a hand in who gets to keep U.S. citizenship and who does not?

Since this is an article about immigration law, let me inform you, dear reader, that the renunciation or relinquishment of U.S. citizenship is governed by Section 349 of the Immigration & Nationality Act (INA).  A U.S. citizen can commit an act that expatriates him or her but Vance v. Terezas holds that expatriation is only constitutionally permissible where the government can prove that a party not only voluntarily engaged in the expatriating act, but that he or she meant to do it. The various kinds of expatriating acts are described in Section 349.  Appearing before the UN to renounce citizenship is not listed therein as an expatriating act. While it appears Superman clearly intended to relinquish citizenship, we don’t know yet whether he actually followed through on his rather rash decision. Also, we can’t be sure that Lex Luthor or one of Superman’s other archenemies has not put some sort of spell over him that would cause Superman to lose the legal competency to make an effective expatriation decision.

If Superman really does intend to relinquish his citizenship, Section 349 prescribes what he can do.  He can make a formal renunciation of nationality before a diplomatic or consular officer of the U.S. in a foreign state, in such form as may be prescribed by the Secretary of State.  Or if the U.S. happened to be in a state of war, he could make a formal written renunciation to the Attorney General.  If heaven forbid, Superman committed an act of treason (simply unthinkable unless, of course, Lex Luthor or his ilk put him up to it), or bore arms against the U.S. or conspired to overthrow it, then Superman could also lose his citizenship.  But there is nothing in Section 349 about going before the UN to give up such a precious status.  And even if Superman can’t lose his citizenship by going before the UN, let’s hope anyway that he has a change of heart.

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