United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind

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United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind
George Sutherland
Syllabus
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United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, 261 U.S. 204 (1923), was a case in which the United States Supreme Court decided that Bhagat Singh Thind, who was a Punjabi Sikh, settled in Oregon, could not be a naturalized citizen of the United States, because he was not a "white person" in the sense intended in the relevant 1790 statute governing naturalization. Although Thind argued that as an Indian he belonged to the Aryan and therefore the Caucasian race, the Court found that "the Aryan theory, as a racial basis, seems to be discredited by most, if not all, modern writers on the subject of ethnology," and noted that "the Caucasic division of the human family is 'in point of fact the most debatable field in the whole range of anthropological studies.'" The Court found that the authors of the 1790 statute probably ascribed to "the Adamite theory of creation" and understood "white people" in its popular, and not scientific, sense.

867783United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind — SyllabusGeorge Sutherland

United States Supreme Court

261 U.S. 204

United States  v.  Bhagat Singh Thind

 Argued: Jan. 11, 12, 1923. --- Decided: Feb 19, 1923

Mr. Solicitor General Beck, of Washington, D. C., for the United states.

Mr. Will R. King, of Washington, D. C., for Thind.

[Argument of Counsel from page 205-206 intentionally omitted]

Mr. Justice SUTHERLAND delivered the opinion of the Court.

Notes

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This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States federal government (see 17 U.S.C. 105).

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