Cite as: 523 U. S. 420 (1998)
Breyer, J., dissenting
ship, those limitations are not applicable here, for the Court need not grant citizenship. The statute itself grants citizenship automatically, and "at birth." And this Court need only declare that that is so. INS v. Pangilinan, 486 U. S. 875 (1988), which Justice Scalia cites in support, is beside the point, for the plaintiffs in that case, conceding that the statute at issue did not make them citizens, asked the courts to confer citizenship as a remedy in equity. Cf. Bellei, 401 U. S., at 828-836 (assessing claim that statute conferred citizenship in the absence of a provision argued to be unconstitutional, without identifying any special remedial problems).
Of course, we can excise the two provisions only if Congress likely would prefer their excision, rather than imposing similar requirements upon mothers. Califano v. Westcott, 443 U. S. 76, 89-93 (1979); Welsh v. United States, 398 U. S. 333, 361 (1970) (Harlan, J., concurring in result). But, since the provisions at issue seem designed in significant part to address difficulties in proving paternity (along with providing encouragement for fathers to legitimate the child) and, since DNA advances have overcome the paternity-proof difficulties, I believe that Congress would have preferred severance.
Justice Scalia is also wrong, I believe, when he says that "the INA itself contains a clear statement of congressional intent" not to sever, ante, at 457, for the Act in fact contains the following explicit severability provision:
"If any particular provision of this Act, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the remainder of the Act and the application of such provision to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby." § 406, 66 Stat. 281; see note following 8 U. S. C. § 1101, p. 38, "Separability."
The provision cited by Justice Scalia says:
"A person may be naturalized as a citizen of the United States in the manner and under the conditions
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