June 28, 1994 [NOT FOR PUBLICATION]
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT
No. 94-1162
JOSE FUFI SANTORI,
Plaintiff, Appellant,
v.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Defendant, Appellee.
APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO
[Hon. Juan M. Perez-Gimenez, U.S. District Judge]
Before
Selya, Cyr and Boudin,
Circuit Judges.
Celso E. Lopez on brief for appellant.
Guillermo Gil, United States Attorney, and Maria Hortensia
Rios Gandara, Assistant United States Attorney, on brief for
appellee.
Per Curiam. Appellant Jose Santori, a natural born
citizen of the United States, appeals the dismissal by the
United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico
of his request (1) for a declaratory judgment that he has the
right to renounce his United States citizenship before any
federal court and become a non-citizen national of the United
States and a citizen only of Puerto Rico; (2) that the court
set a date on which he can renounce his United States
citizenship; and (3) that, insofar as the Immigration and
Naturalization Act [INA], 8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq., prevents
any citizen from renouncing his citizenship and becoming a
non-citizen national, the court declare the INA
unconstitutional.
The district court dismissed this case for lack of
subject-matter jurisdiction. The Article III issues involved
raise interesting questions, but we are entitled to affirm
the dismissal on the ground that no substantial question is
presented on the merits despite jurisdictional doubts, see
United States v. Connell, 6 F.3d 27, 29 (1st Cir. 1993)
(citing cases), and choose to do so in this case. Congress
has broad authority over conditions and procedures for
obtaining and renouncing citizenship, see Davis v. District
Director, INS, 481 F. Supp. 1178, 1183-84 n.8 (D.D.C. 1979),
and Santori has provided us with no authority nor any
reasoned argument to suggest that it has exceeded the
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constitutional limits by refusing to afford him the option he
seeks, namely, to renounce his United States citizenship
while remaining a national of this country.
Affirmed. See 1st Cir. Loc. R. 27.1.
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