Cite as: 533 U. S. 53 (2001)
O'Connor, J., dissenting
factors support this conclusion. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) contains a general severability clause, which provides: "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." We have concluded that this severability clause "is unambiguous and gives rise to a presumption that Congress did not intend the validity of the [INA] as a whole, or any part of the [INA], to depend upon whether" any one provision was unconstitutional. INS v. Chadha, 462 U. S. 919, 932 (1983).
Title 8 U. S. C. § 1421(d), which states that "[a] person may only be naturalized as a citizen of the United States in the manner and under the conditions prescribed in this sub-chapter and not otherwise," has no effect on the operation of the INA's general severability clause in this case. Section 1421(d) governs only naturalization, which the statute defines as "the conferring of nationality of a state upon a person after birth," § 1101(a)(23), whereas §§ 1401(g) and 1409 deal with the transmission of citizenship at birth, see § 1401 ("The following shall be nationals and citizens of the United States at birth . . ."). Further, unlike the INA's general severability clause, § 1421(d) does not specifically address the scenario where a particular provision is held invalid. Indeed, the INS does not even rely on § 1421(d) in its brief.
Nor does our decision in INS v. Pangilinan, 486 U. S. 875 (1988), preclude severance here. In Pangilinan, this Court held that courts lack equitable authority to order the naturalization of persons who did not satisfy the statutory requirements for naturalization. Id., at 883-885. Petitioners in the instant case, however, seek the exercise of no such equitable power. Petitioners instead seek severance of the offending provisions so that the statute, free of its constitutional defect, can operate to determine whether citizen-
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