Cite as: 523 U. S. 420 (1998)
Scalia, J., concurring in judgment
were to agree that the difference in treatment between illegitimate children of citizen-fathers and citizen-mothers is unconstitutional, we could not, consistent with the limited judicial power in this area, remedy that constitutional infirmity by declaring petitioner to be a citizen or ordering the State Department to approve her application for citizenship. "Once it has been determined that a person does not qualify for citizenship, . . . the district court has no discretion to ignore the defect and grant citizenship." INS v. Pangilinan, 486 U. S. 875, 884 (1988) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).
Judicial power over immigration and naturalization is extremely limited. "Our cases 'have long recognized the power to expel or exclude aliens as a fundamental sovereign attribute exercised by the Government's political departments largely immune from judicial control.' " Fiallo v. Bell, 430 U. S. 787, 792 (1977) (quoting Shaughnessy v. United States ex rel. Mezei, 345 U. S. 206, 210 (1953)). See also Landon v. Plasencia, 459 U. S. 21, 32 (1982) ("[T]he power to admit or exclude aliens is a sovereign prerogative"); Mathews v. Diaz, 426 U. S. 67, 79-80 (1976) ("In the exercise of its broad power over naturalization and immigration, Congress regularly makes rules that would be unacceptable if applied to citizens"); Kleindienst v. Mandel, 408 U. S. 753, 769-770 (1972) ("[P]lenary congressional power to make policies and rules for exclusion of aliens has long been firmly established"); Galvan v. Press, 347 U. S. 522, 531 (1954) ("That the formulation of [policies pertaining to the
Craig, petitioner is the "least awkward challenger," id., at 197, since it is her right to citizenship that is at stake. Our law on this subject is in need of what may charitably be called clarification, but I would leave it for another day. Since I accept petitioner's third-party standing, there is no need for me to reach the Government's claim (which it asserts for the first time in its brief on the merits in this Court) that petitioner cannot invoke the Equal Protection Clause on her own behalf because she is not within the jurisdiction of the United States. Brief for Respondent 11-12.
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