US SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

The Treaty of 1850 between the United States and Switzerland provides that citizens of one country residing in the other "shall be free from personal military service." Section 3(a) of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, as amended, provided for the exemption of neutral aliens from service in the land or naval forces of the United States, with the proviso that one who claimed exemption should thereafter be barred from becoming a citizen of the United States. Petitioner, a Swiss national, applied for and obtained exemption from service in the land or naval forces of the United States.

Held: under the circumstances detailed in the opinion, he was not debarred from United States citizenship. Pp. 341 U. S. 42-47.

(a) As a matter of law, the Act imposed a valid condition on petitioner's claim of exemption from military service. Pp. 341 U. S. 45-46.

(b) Petitioner did not knowingly and intentionally waive his rights to citizenship. Considering all the circumstances of the case, elementary fairness would require nothing less than an intelligent waiver to debar petitioner from citizenship. Pp. 341 U. S. 46-47.

182 F.2d 734, reversed.

An order of the District Court admitting petitioner to citizenship, 85 F.Supp. 683, was reversed by the Court of Appeals. 182 F.2d 734. This Court granted certiorari. 340 U.S. 910. Reversed, p. 341 U. S. 47. chanrobles.com-red

Page 341 U. S. 42